
Glass. 

Book »^6-r 



± 






THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



BY 



GEO. SMITH C.I.E., LL.D. 



Henry Marty n, Saint and Scholar, First 
Modern Missionary to the Mohammedans. 
1 781-1812. With Portrait, Map and 
other Illustrations. Large 8vo, cloth, 
gilt top 3.00 

"This excellent biography, so accurately- 
written, so full of interest and contagious en- 
thusiasm, so well arranged, illustrated and 
indexed, is worthy of the subject."— The Critic. 

1 ' This large and handsome volume gives us 
new, and we believe just, conceptions of the 
man." — The Christian Intelligencer. 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 



GRAVES LECTURES, 1892. 



The Holy Spirit in Missions. By 

Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D. i2mo, cloth, 
gilt top 1.25 

" Fervid and intense in its style, emphasizing 
the duty of preaching the gospel as a witness 
among all nations."— The Missionary Herald. 

" These lectures are marked by great fervor 
and cumulative force. We firmly believe that 
such a book will send many a young man to the 
altar, a living sacrifice to missions." — The 
Observer. 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

New York Chicago Toronto 



THE 

CONVEBSION OF INDIA 

EKOM PANT.ENUS TO THE PKESENT TIME 

A.D. 193-1893 



By GEOBGE SMITH, CLE, LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF THE LIVES OF CAREY, OF HENRY MARTYN, OF DUFF, OF WILSON, 
OF HISLOP, OF SOMERVILLE, ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



Ae-qdryre 



FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
New York Chicago Toronto 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature 



^ 






D, 0. Public Library 

By ]3te;,Qtoft»ffQ v, 

AUG 27 1929 



PREFACE 

The first of the Churches of the Reformation to become 
missionary was that of the Netherlelands. The Dutch 
colony of New Netherlands, in North America, lasted 
from the year 1609 to- 1664. In 1628 the first congre- 
gation was organised on Manhattan Island, now New 
York. That was the earliest to work among the Red 
Indians. The organization which is now known as the 
Reformed Church in America, has furthermore established 
one of the most remarkable missions in British India, the 
Arcot Mission. In 1888 one of the elders of that Church, 
Mr. Nathan F. Graves, of Syracuse, N. Y., wrote to the 
late L. W. V. B. Mabon, D.D., Professor in its Theological 
Seminary, New Brunswick, N. J. : "I understand there is 
no Seminary or Professorship of Missions in the United 
States." The result was the establishment, by that bene- 
factor, of a foundation like the Boyle Lecture of England, 
on which, in 1864, the late Dean Merivale delivered in 
the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, eight lectures on the Conver- 
sion of the Roman Empire, and, in 1865, eight lectures on 
the Conversion of the Northern Nations. 

The present writer chose as the subject of the fifth 
course of Graves' lectures, The Conversion of India. 
This volume contains a somewhat fuller treatment of that 



Vlll THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

question, historically and practically, than was possible in 
the six lectures which he was appointed to deliver in the 
first fortnight of October 1893. But the book is only an 
outline of the past history and of the process which is 
going on before our eyes in India. 

The previous courses, on the same foundation, were 
delivered, in 1889, by six distinguished American mission- 
aries on their own missions : in 1890 by Eev. John Hall, 
D.D., LL.D., of New York, on Missions from Apostolic to 
Modern Times; in 1891 by Eev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., 
formerly of Philadelphia, on The Divine Enterprise of 
Missions; and in 1892 by Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D., of 
Boston, on the Holy Spirit in Missions. 



Napier Road, Merchiston, 
Edinburgh, 



CONTENTS 



I. Introduction — 

The Conversion of the Roman Empire 
The Conversion of the Northern Nations . 
The Conversion of India .... 
The Abrahamic and the Christian Centuries 
Colonisation as a Missionary Agency- 
India to be converted by the two English-speaking Peoples 
The historical Problem of Missionary Christianity . 



II. The Greek Attempt — 

Jewish Traders to Western India . . 
The Monsoon Discovery of Hippalus 
Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch 
Pantfenus, first historical Missionary to India 
Theophilus Indicus on Furlough 

Nestorius 

The Nestorian Missionaries . . . 
The Nestorian Tablet of Si-ngan-fu . 

A. Wylie's Version of the Inscription 
Three Persian Crosses of S. India . 
Dr. Burnell's Translation of the Inscriptions 
Extent of the Nestorian Missions . 
b 



10 
11 
lo 
15 

17 
19 

21 
2i 
25 

27 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Cosmas, the Missionary Merchant 
The Two Nestorian Remnants 



PAGE 

27 
30 



III. The Roman Attempt — 

Saracen Invasion of Christendom, and the Crusades 
Tartar Invasion of Europe, and the Council of Lyons 
First Envoys from the Pope and France . 

Marco Polo 

His Account of the Extension of Christianity 
Franciscan and Dominican Missionaries . 
John of Monte Corvino, first to India 

Jordanus 

The Four Martyrs of Thana . 
Prince Henry the Navigator . . • 
Christopher Columbus seeking India 
His relation to the Conversion of India . 
Yasco da Gama lands at Calicut . . 
" Voyages of Joseph the Indian " . 



32 

33 
34 
36 
37 
38 
38 
39 
41 
43 
44 
47 
48 
49 



IV. Francis Xavier and his Successors 
Attempt — 

The Letters of Francis Xavier . 

Protestant and Calvinistic Influences 

Foundation of the Company of Jesus 

Xavier lands in "Western India 

His Work and his Methods 

The Results . 

His Character and Death 

Bishop Cotton's Verdict . 

Abbe Dubois' Criticism . 



The Dutch 



51 
53 

54 
55 
57 
60 
62 
63 
64 



CONTENTS 

The Mission of Archbishop Menezes 

The Malabar Rites and the Chinese Kites 

Robert de ISTobilibus 

Hector de Britto 

R. C. J. Beschi 

Jerome Xavier, Nephew of Francis 

Akbar's Toleration of Christianity 

Roman Catholics in India now 

Romanist Missionary Controversy 

The Dutch Attempt 

Grotius and Baldaeus 

Ceylon and the Failure there . 

The true Watchwords of the Missionary 



XI 

PAGE 

65 
67 
68 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
74 
76 
77 
78 
80 



V. The British East India Company's Work of Prepa- 
ration — 



Queen Elizabeth's Position . . . . . 

Charter of the English East India Company . . 

Sir Henry Maine's Eulogy of the Company 

Subsequent Charters : the Pax Evangelica 

From Queen Elizabeth to the Queen-Empress Victoria 

The Company's early Ships, Factories, and Chaplains 

Henry Lord .... 

Cromwell, Oxenden, and Masters 

The First English Church 

Calcutta founded — The Chaplains 

Clive and Warren Hastings 

Ziegenbalg begins the Coast Mission 

Carey, Marshman, and Ward begin the Bengal Mission 

Medical Missions begun 

Charles Grant and his Influence .... 
His great Treatise written in 1892 .... 



84 
85 

86 
87 



90 
91 
92 
95 
95 
95 
96 
97 



Xll 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Parliamentary Debates on the Charter of 1813 
Wilberforce and Macaulay .... 
Dr. Claudius Buchanan and Church Establishment 
Anglo-Indian Statesmen as Christians 
The East India Company's Humane Reforms . 
Vision of Converted India . . • • 



PAGE 

105 
105 
107 
109 
110 
111 



VI. Great Britain's Attempt — 

Reading the Queen's Proclamation . . 

The Queen's own Additions 

Toleration first constitutionally established 

Lord Canning's Opinion and Action 

Christian Movement among the Sikh Sepoys 

Lord Lawrence's Minute of 21st April 1858 

Neutrality and State Education 

The Penal Code a Teacher of Toleration . 

Sir Henry Sumner Maine 

His Christian Marriage and Divorce Act, 1866 

Toleration yet to be secured . 

James Thomason's Faith . 

William Carey . . 

Donald Mitchell, Robert Nesbit, and John Wilson 

Alexander Duff and John Anderson 

Lutheran Attempt checked by Caste 

The Great Missionary Societies 

Bible Translations 

Immediate Conversion and the Future 
The Infant Church tested by Martyrdom 
Gopinath Nundy and the Mutiny . 
Great Britain and America roused . 
India taken Possession of for Christ 



113 

114 
115 
117 
118 
119 
121 
123 
123 
125 
126 
127 
128 
130 
130 
131 
131 
132 
134 
138 
139 
143 
144 



CONTENTS 



Xlll 



VII. The United States of America's Co-operation— 



Foreign Missions the Foreign Politics of America 
Jonas Michaelius and Joannes Megapolensis 
The Pilgrim Fathers and John Eliot 
Scotland and the Brainerds 
The Prayer Concert and Jonathan Edwards 
First Mission to the Punjab and John C. Lowri 

Adoniram Judson 

Sir Henry Durand's Eulogy . . , 
Ann H. and Sarah Judson . . , 
Hall and Nott's Mission to the Marathas 
Governors of India and American Mission:: 
Alexander Duff s Visit to America . 
Missionary Army of the United States 
Women Medical Missionaries . 
Mary Seelye, M.D. 

John Scudder and the Scudder Family 
Forty Years' Work in North Arcot . 
The Aim of Columbus being realised 



145 
146 
147 
148 
150 
150 
151 
153 
155 
157 
157 
159 
160 
163 
164 
164 
166 
168 



VIII. The Methods of the Evangelical Mission to India- 



What India is 

Meditations of a Hindu Prince . . 
Men are more than Methods . 
The Five Qualifications of Missionaries . 
Rich Succession of Missionaries to India . 
India demands the Best Men and Women 
The Lord's Methods .... 
John Wilson on preaching to Hindus 
The Literary Method — Bible Translation 
The Missionaries on their own Seven Methods 



169 
170 
172 
172 
175 
176 
177 
178 
179 
181 



XIV 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



The Revival of Interest in Foreign Missions 
The Educational-Evangelising Method 
The Experts on this Method . 
The Free Church of Scotland's Action 
A Christian University for all India 
The Jesuit Danger .... 
Dr. John Wilson's Warning . • 



[page 
184 

185 
185 
189 
191 
193 
194 



IX. The Results op Christian Missions to India — 

Importance of Missionary Geography 

The World's Population and fertile Area 

Christianity and World- Religions . 

Work of the Reformed Churches among Non-Christians 

Asia stands out as most clamant 

India demands Effort first 

The Religions of its Three Hundred Millions 

The Christians now outnumber the Sikhs 

The 168,000 Europeans and 80,000 Eurasians 

Native Protestant Christians in India and Burma 

The Results of Nine Years ending 1890 analysed 

Woman's Work in India 

Ceylon , 

The People of the Towns and Villages 

The Church responsible for One-Fifth of the Human Race 

Macleod Wylie's Appeal of 1853 unanswered 

Appeal of the Missionaries in India in 1893 



195 

196 
197 
198 
199 
199 
201 
201 
202 
204 
205 
205 
207 
209 
210 
211 
212 



X. The Prospects of the Conversion of India— 

The Compromise offered by Brahmanism . . .215 

The Lost and the Victorious Causes . . . .216 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

The Prospects brighter than the Faith and the Obedience 

of the Church • . .217 

The present Transition • , . . . . .218 

The Casteless Fifty Millions 218 

Forty Years' Progress among them . . , . .218 
The Hindu Hundred and Fifty Millions . . . .219 

Brahmanism disintegrating 219 

The Brahma Somaj and the Arya Somaj ... . 220 

New Hindu Modes of Opposition ... . . . 220 

The New Islam 221 

Kemarkable Testimony of Maulvi Imad-ud-Din . . 222 
Battle between Islam and Christianity in India now 

fought out 227 

The silent Revolution 228 

The Unrest of the Conscience in India .... 228 

The Position and Increase of Native Christians . . 229 

Political Prospects of the Conversion of India . • . 231 

The Future Church of India 232 

The Lord working with every true Missionary • . 233 

XL Intercession and Thanksgiving — 

Subjects for Daily Missionary Intercession . . . 235 

Prayer for Obedience to the Lord's Commission . . 236 

Prayer for India, Burma, and Ceylon • • 236 

Prayer for Mohammedans • . . . . . 237 

Prayer for China and Japan 237 

Prayer for Africa 237 

Prayer for Oceania 238 

Prayer for the Conversion of Israel 238 

Prayer for Inquirers • • • • • . . 238 

Prayer for Catechumens • 239 

Prayer for Disciples • 289 



XVI THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

PAGE 

Prayer for Students 239 

Prayer for the Church in the United States of America . 240 

Prayer for Missionaries 240 

Prayer for the Quickening of Zeal in Christians . . 241 
Prayer to be used by Missionary Committees and Secre- 
taries 241 

Thanksgiving for the Progress of the Gospel . • . 243 

Appendix — 

The Finding of the Nestorian Tablet . . . .247 

Index • 251 



Be these thy trophies, Queen of many Isles ! 
On these high Heaven shall shed indulgent smiles. 
First by thy guardian voice to India led, 
Shall Truth divine her tearless victories spread ; 
Wide and more wide the heaven-born light shall stream 
New realms from thee shall catch the blissful theme, 
Unwonted warmth the soften'd savage feel, 
Strange chiefs admire, and turban'd warriors kneel, 
The prostrate East submit her jewell'd pride, 
And swarthy kings adore the Crucified. 
Fam'd Ava's walls Messiah's name shall own, 
Where haughty splendour guards the Burman throne. 
Thy hills, Tibet, shall hear, and Ceylon's bowers, 
And snow-white waves that circle Peking's towers, 
Where, sheath'd in sullen pomp, the Tartar lord 
Forgetful slumbers o'er his idle sword ; 
O'er all the plains where barbarous hordes afar 
On panting steeds pursue the roving war, 
Soft notes of joy th' eternal gloom shall cheer, 
And smooth the terrors of the arctic year : 
Till from the blazing line to polar snows, 
Through varying realms, one tide of blessing flows. 
Then shall thy breath, celestial Peace, unbind 
The frozen heart, and mingle mind with mind ; 
With sudden youth shall slumb'ring Science start, 
And call to life each long -forgotten art, 
Retrace her ancient paths or new explore, 
And breathe to wond'ring worlds her mystic lore. 

Yes, it shall come ! E'en now my eyes behold, 
In distant view, the wish'd-for age unfold. 
Lo, o'er the shadowy days that roll between, 
A wand'ring gleam foretells th' ascending scene I 
Oh, doom'd victorious from thy wounds to rise, 
Dejected India, lift thy downcast eyes, 



And mark the hour, whose faithful steps for thee 
Through Time's press'd ranks bring on the jubilee 1 

Roll back, ye crowded Years, your thick array, 
Greet the glad hour, and give the triumph way. 
Hail First and Greatest, inexpressive name, 
Substantial Wisdom, God with God the same I 
Light, which shades of fiercest glory veil, 
human Essence, mix'd with Godhead, hail ! 
Powers, Princedoms, Virtues, wait thy sovereign call, 
And but for Thee exists this breathing all. 
Then shake thy heavens, thou Mightiest, and descend 
While Truth and Peace Thy radiant march attend. 
With wearied hopes thy thousand empires groan, 
Our aching eyes demand thy promis'd throne. 
Oh cheer the realms from life and sunshine far ! 
Oh plant in Eastern skies thy sevenfold star ! 

Then, while transported Asia kneels around, 
With ancient arts and long-lost glories crown'd, 
Some happier Bard, on Ganges' margin laid, 
Where playful bamboos weave their fretted shade, 
Shall to the strings a loftier tone impart, 
And pour in rapturous verse his flowing heart. 
Stamp'd in immortal light on future days, 
Through all the strain his country's joys shall blaze ; 
The Sanscreet song be warm'd with heavenly fires, 
And themes divine awake from Indian lyres. 

Chaeles Grant, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, 
Cambridge, 1805 ; afterwards Lord Glenelg. 






ILLUSTRATIONS 



TO FACE PAGE 

Chkistian Inscription of Si-ngan-fu in Chinese and 

Syriac, reduced 20 

The Oldest Christian Inscription in India — Seventh 

Century 25 



THE CONVEKSION OP INDIA 



INTRODUCTION 

The greatest event in the history of the world is the 
conversion to Christ of the Roman Empire. The revolu- 
tion occupied three centuries till it was completed, — 
externally, by the coup aVttat of Constantine, the first 
Christian emperor; internally, by the Nicene theology. 
The immediate consequent and the richest result of this 
divine transformation was the conversion to Christ of 
the Northern Nations chiefly through Celtic and Saxon 
missionaries, whose representatives at the present hour 
are the English-speaking families of the British Empire 
and the United States of America. This movement 
required other twelve centuries, and ended in the reforma- 
tion of the Church, which, historically, finished the con- 
version of Europe. The Christian revolution and the 
Church's reformation were confined to the West; the 
Eastern and North African Churches virtually abandoned 
Asia and Africa to the old heathen cults of Brahmanism, 
Buddhism, and demonolatry. These Churches even became 
so corrupt in life and doctrine that from their errors, 
working along with the imperfections of Judaism, there 
arose Mohammedanism, the greatest antagonist of Chris- 
tianity to the present day. 

B 



2 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

The Reformed Churches of Europe and America, after 
a critical pause for two centuries more, during which they 
were unconsciously preparing the Word of God for the 
world-races, and were opening up new continents and 
islands to its sway, entered a century ago on the third 
spiritual revolution — the conversion of the East, of India 
and Southern Asia, to Christ. The conversion of Africa 
and the islands may be regarded as the work of the 
missionary century on which we are just entering. So 
far as Africa is under Mohammedan influence, the evangel- 
ising of that continent is really a part of the greater prob- 
lem of Asia. Following up the two revolutions of the 
eighteen Christian centuries, the third, the conversion 
of India in the widest sense of that word, is the first and 
greatest mission to which Western Christendom is called. 
The fitful and mistaken attempts of the Early Church, 
the long neglect or cruel intolerance that succeeded these 
up to a century ago, have made Brahmanism, with its off- 
spring, and Islam apparently more powerful enemies of 
Christ than even the classical paganism of Hellas and 
Imperial Rome. Hinduism and Islam once fairly grappled 
with, the millions of China and Japan, of Africa and 
Oceania, must follow willing captives in the triumphal 
train of the Christ. 

We stand to-day at a point in the history of the human 
family almost as many years after the incarnation of Jesus 
Christ as His first and greatest forerunner lived before 
that central event. The nineteen Abrahamic centuries 
were the period of decentralisation, of scattering, of de- 
spair, but of silent preparation.- The nineteen Christian 
centuries have been the time of unification, of elevation, 
of hope. Then the warring races and jarring civilisations, 
preying upon each other, groped about the old world 
around the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, 
knowing little of their home or of physical law. Now, 
and especially in the last century, men have been taught 
by Christ the unity of their destiny in Him, and their 
consequent responsibility to each other. Science has 
revealed and almost surveyed the whole world, old and 



INTRODUCTION 3 

new. Colonisation has at last, after the struggles and the 
strifes of six thousand years, taken possession of the 
planet. One language, the English, transcending even 
the limits of races and nations and governments, as the 
Greek never did, has become the ever-growing depository 
of the highest civilisation and the fruitful medium of its 
unifying extension. The one faith of Christ Jesus, the 
Son of Man, who said that He came to seek and to save 
the lost, prompting science, guiding colonisation, and using 
English speech, is working out the realisation of the unity 
of mankind by the very modern enterprise of Foreign 
Missions. 1 

In this historical evolution of the human family through 
Christianity, the oldest, the most wonderful, and still the 
most fruitful and necessary portion, is that which is con- 
cerned with India and Southern Asia. In working out 
this process the Christians of the United States of America 
are allied and co-operate with those of the British Empire 
on almost equal terms. We together, 100 millions strong, 
in Europe and America, with the same origin, the same 
history, the same tongue, the same literature, the same 
faith, and therefore the same Christ-commanded duty and 
assured hope, are set over or over against the 300 millions 
of India in the providence of God. Our fathers, theirs 
and ours, dwelt together four thousand years ago when 

1 In 1852 David Livingstone, having explored as a medical mission- 
ary north to the Upper Zambesi, wrote thus to his directors — "You 
will see by the accompanying sketch-map what an immense region 
God in His grace has opened up." Again — " I never anticipated fame 
from the discovery of the lake (Ngami). I cared very little about it ; 
but the sight of the rivers and countries beyond, all densely populated, 
awakened many and enthusiastic feelings. Consider the multitudes 
that in the providence of God have been brought to light ; the prob- 
ability that in our efforts to evangelise we shall put a stop to the 
slave trade in a large region, and by means of the highway into the 
north which we have discovered, bring unknown nations into the 
sympathies of the Christian world." The result is the difference 
between the Africa of 1853 and 1893, and the possibilities, amounting 
to certainties, of the future of the whole African peoples. The process 
is going on before our eyes. 



4 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

the first missionary call from " the God of Glory " fell on 
the ears of Abraham in the ancestral land, and the first 
whisper of the missionary covenant was heard by " the 
father of a multitude." How has it come about that we 
have had committed to us so vast a task which we did 
not consciously seek, so splendid a trust from which again 
and again we have shrunk, and which sometimes even still 
we resent? What has been the attitude and what the 
action of the Christian Church to the peoples of India 1 

Since the first application of the comparative method 
of Philology to early history fifty years ago, no well- 
established advance has been made on the conclusion 
that, from the great plateau of Iran, between the Persian 
Gulf and the Caspian Sea, the Indo-European race, who 
called themselves Aryan or " noble," scattered south-east 
to the Indus and north-west to Europe, and ultimately to 
America. 1 

Of all the teachings of Science and of History there is 
none so important to the human race, and especially to 
the British and American peoples, as this evolution of 
Providence during the past four thousand years. It is 
the racial, the historical, the divine root of all Foreign 
Missions, alike in their spiritual and their civilising aspects. 
The Turanian is succeeded by the Semitic, and both pre- 
pare the way for the Aryan or Indo-European. Of the 
Aryans, the elder branches, Sanskritic and Persic, find a 
home in North India, and there from the nature-worship 

3 See pp. 8-10 of Study of Comparative Grammar, by George Smith, 
1854. In his " Essay on the Geography of the Valley of the Oxus" 
(1872), prefixed to Captain John Wood's Journey to the Source of the 
River Oxus, the late Sir Henry Yule inclines to the interpretation of the 
sacred narrative of Genesis, which finds the Adamic paradise in the 
heart of Asia which gives birth to the Oxus, ' ' the great physical and 
political watershed of the Old Continent." The high tableland of 
Pamir nearly realises the old pictures of Eden, which figure the four 
rivers as literally diverging from a central lake to the four quarters 
of the earth, — the Oxus towards Europe, the Yarkand river to the verge 
of China, the Jaxartes to the north-east, and the Indus to the south- 
west. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

of their Vedic literature develop the Brahmanical system 
of Pantheism and caste and the Puranic idolatry. They 
utterly fail. The younger branches alone continue the 
slow work of preparation, first in the sunny lands of 
Greece and Italy, then in the Teutonic forests of Central 
Europe, in the Scandinavian snows of the north, and the 
Celtic islands of the far west. Eeceiving the doctrine of 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of men, first 
the Celts through Patrick and Columba, and then the 
Saxons through Boniface, become missionaries to Germany. 
Scandinavia and all Europe, escaping the humanistic heresy 
of Arius, become Christian. But still Christendom itself 
needs at once reformation and expansion westward. The 
first is given to it by Wiclif and Luther, especially in the 
form of the Word of God in the vernaculars of the people. 
The expansion begins at the same time when, seeking for 
India, Christopher Columbus first finds America, and the 
blind absolutism of English statesmanship three hundred 
years after results in the independence of the United 
States. 

Thus have the English-speaking Aryans been trained 
to become the rulers of India and the evangelisers of 
Asia. The younger, of Great Britain and America, have 
been prepared to serve the elder, of India, in the highest 
ministry of sacrifice, that through them the Hindus, 
Parsees, and Mohammedans may now receive Christ. 
Upon us, as upon all Christians, there rests the command 
to go and teach all nations. But the teaching of India is 
pre-eminently the first and the greatest duty of the English- 
speaking Aryans, who have been chosen as the servants of 
Jehovah for this end as truly as the great Cyrus was in 
the Old Testament, that the Jews might fulfil their pre- 
paratory mission to the world, and might in their turn 
bring in the fulness of the nations. Through Brahmanism 
the Hindus have been missionaries of evil to the aboriginal 
people of India, whose Dravidian demon-worship is not so 
far from the kingdom of Heaven as its caste-bound philo- 
sophy and ritual. Through Buddhism the Hindus were 
the most enthusiastic and successful missionaries of a 



6 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

pantheistic nihilism in faith and morals to the millions of 
China and Tibet, Burma and Ceylon. Thus the duty laid 
upon us to seek and save India first or above all regions, 
is accompanied by the assurance that when we open the 
door of Brahmanism to Christ we open it to the millions 
of China and Japan, of the Eastern Peninsula and Ceylon. 
India is the key to all South and Central Asia. The 
complete conquest of the Brahman and the Mohammedan 
of India by the Cross will be to all Asia what the 
submission of Constantine was to the Eoman Empire — 
in hoc signo vincimus. 

The historical or providential problem of missionary 
Christianity — the only true Christianity — to the outlines 
of the solution of which these Lectures are devoted, is to 
bring into the kingdom of Jesus Christ the elder branch 
of the great Indo-European family in India and Southern 
Asia. Daniel's vision of the Four Empires presented the 
universal problem, of which the Indian is the most im- 
portant element after the European, under the figure of a 
colossal image, its four parts successively destroyed by 
what appeared to be a little stone cut out of the moun- 
tain without hands. The gold of Chaldaea and the silver 
of Medo-Persia had given place to the brass of Greece 
under Alexander and his successors, and that in turn was 
at once yielding to and subduing the iron empire of Rome, 
when, in the fulness of time, Jesus Christ was enrolled in 
the census taken under the decree of Caesar Augustus. 
Then it was that there began the training of the future 
English-speaking peoples of the West to fit them for the 
mightiest work in their history, the Christianising of 
India and the dark races. If we prolong the vision of 
Daniel beyond the close of the iron empire, so distant 
from the prophet, we shall best represent the great 
missionary evolution, which is to end in the conversion 
of India to Christ as its fullest triumph, as a drama in 
these acts : 

I. The Greek Attempt, through the Nestorians, whose 
metaphysical religion misrepresented Christ. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

II. The Eoman Attempt, through the Jesuits, Fran- 
ciscans, and Dominicans, whose compromise with 
heathenism resulted in the defeat, admitted by 
Abbe Dubois, in 1815. 

III. The Dutch Attempt, whose nominal converts 

vanished with the extinction of their power in 
India and Ceylon. 

IV. The British East India Company's Work of 

Preparation, and its extinction in 1858. 

V. Great Britain's Attempt through the Evangelical 
Societies and Churches since 1793, and especially 
since 1858. 

VI. The United States of America's Co-operation 

in the English-speaking Mission. 

VII. The Methods of the Evangelical Mission to 
India. 

VIII. The Results and the Prospects of Christian 
Missions to India and Southern Asia. 



THE GKEEK ATTEMPT 

' ' Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, 
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And 
ye are complete in Him." — Col. ii. 8-10. 

India, like the Britain of our Celtic and savage fore- 
fathers, first received the gospel of Jesus Christ through 
commerce and colonisation, which are still the most rapid 
and wide-spreading carriers of divine truth. At the close 
of the first Christian century, when the Phoenicians were 
trafficking in Cornwall and Wales, and in India and Ceylon, 
" those who had seen the apostles," to use the words of 
Photius, were beginning to teach the nations alike of 
England and of the Indias, and to found Churches in both 
regions. The Jews, as widely dispersed as their Tyrian 
neighbours, with whom they had been partners since the 
days of Solomon and Hiram, and ever closely connected 
with Jerusalem, used the facilities of communication given 
by the Greek tongue and the Eoman order to carry first 
their own Monotheism and Messianic hopes, and then the 
good news that Jesus Christ was the promised One, where- 
ever trade penetrated. That apostolic Christianity was 
carried to what we now call India, and especially to its 
western coast between Barygaza or Broach, north of the 
modern island of Bombay, and Cranganor above Cape 
Comorin, by Jews, is a fact of intense spiritual interest. 
Seventeen years after the atonement, the resurrection, 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 9 

and the ascension of our Lord, when He had repeated His 
last charge to every believing disciple in all ages, the first 
great geographical and scientific discovery was made to 
which Christian missions owe their progress. In the year 
50 A.D. the pilot Hippalus revealed the semi-annual reversal 
of the wind system of the Indian Ocean which is called by 
the Arabic word for "a season," moussin or monsoon. 
Hippalus sailed right across the open sea from the Arabian 
promontory of Syagros or Cape Fartask to Barygaza, 
Kalliena, Muziris or Mangalor, and Nelkynda or Cannanor, 
on the Malabar coast. The discovery was as momentous 
for India as the application of the constant nature of the 
trade winds by Columbus more than fourteen centuries 
afterwards proved to be, in the revealing of America. Up 
to the time of Hippalus the gold and spice and gem and 
cloth trade of India had been carried by land at least as 
far as the Persian Gulf ; and even the Jews, such as those 
who went to Jerusalem at the Pentecostal feast, must have 
had their depdts on the Malabar coast and Ceylon. But 
a knowledge of the regularity of the trade winds gave the 
command of the trade thenceforth to the fleets of Egypt. 
Gradually Judseo- Christian disciples, who had received 
the arrow of conviction at Pentecost, and others who had 
been scattered abroad on the death of Stephen, found 
their way to the trading settlements of West and South 
India, according to their own traditions. 

When the great catastrophe came to which Christ had 
in vain pointed the Jews of His day, and which His own 
apostles expected to be the end of the age — the fall of 
Jerusalem — the trading settlements of India formed refuges 
for not a few of the finally dispersed Jews. The tradi- 
tions of the thirteen thousand Jews who still worship the 
God of their fathers chiefly at Bombay and Cochin, are 
recorded in the Hebrew tongue as handed down to them, 
and partly confirmed by titles engraved on two sides of 
a copper plate deposited by Claudius Buchanan in the 
University Library of Cambridge. The scroll of the 
White Jews of Cochin thus begins — "After the Second 
Temple was destroyed (which may God speedily rebuild !) 



10 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

our fathers, dreading the conqueror's wrath, departed from 
Jerusalem, a numerous body of men, women, priests, and 
Levites, and came into this land." At that time, 70 A.D., 
South India was, and continued almost till the disastrous 
arrival of the Portuguese by the Cape of Good Hope to 
be, divided among independent native rulers, such as those 
of Pandya (Madura and Tinnevelli), Chola, Chera (Coim- 
bator and Salem), and Kerala (Malabar),— -men generally 
favourable to strangers who sought their protection and 
enriched them by trade. In the providence of God this 
Indian land seemed prepared to be an early nursery first 
of Old Testament psalm and prophecy, and then of primi- 
tive Christianity. All through the eighteen centuries 
since, Christianity and Judaism have found a home in the 
midst of the Brahmanical castes of Hinduism and the 
devil -worshipping aborigines, who never showed the in- 
tolerance of Eomanist Portugal or the fanaticism of the 
Mohammedan rule of Aurangzeb and Tipu. At this day 
a fourth of the population of the native state of Cochin 
consists of Nazarani or Christian descendants of the 
apostolic and the Nestorian. missionaries. 

The patriarchates of Alexandria and of Antioch, from 
the former of which cities men were converted on the 
day of Pentecost, while at the latter they were first called 
Christians, became successively the great missionary 
centres x for Asia as well as North Africa. At each, 
through Ptolemy and Seleucus, the civilising energy of 
the great Alexander, on his return from the Punjab and 
Sindh through Baloochistan and by the Persian Gulf, had 
become concentrated and perpetuated. Alexandria was 
the first to send a Christian missionary to India, whose 
name and character we know. Antioch followed, as the 
seat of the Nestorian missionaries, to far Cathay as well 
as more distant Malabar. 

1 In his Old Syriac Element in the Text of Codex Bezce (1893), Mr. 
F. H. Chase, B.D., shows that that most valuable of the ancient 
manuscripts on which Biblical criticism rests, had its origin at Antioch, 
as well as similar Syriacised texts, — a striking fact in the early history 
of Christian missions. 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 11 

Pantsenus, Greek Stoic and Principal of the Christian 
College of Alexandria, was the first historical missionary 
of Christ to the peoples of India. The traditions of local 
Churches claim Peter or Thomas or Bartholomew as their 
apostolic founder. But apart from the natural desire of 
the early Christians thus to link their origin with the 
apostles, the traditions can all be accounted for so far as 
India is concerned, when we remember the vagueness 
with which the name India was used from Homer to 
Columbus, and even sometimes in the present day. The 
India which captivated the imagination and excited the 
desire of classical and mediaeval times was that half of the 
world which stretches from the east coast of Africa east- 
ward to Japan. It consisted of, or rather the geographical 
idea contained, the Middle, the Greater, and the Lesser 
Indias. Ethiopia and South Arabia, with Sokotra, Zanzi- 
bar, and the other islands down to Madagascar, all 
formed Middle India. India proper and Ceylon, including 
much of what is now the Chinese Empire, was the Greater 
India. The Lesser or Farther India was composed of the 
Golden Peninsula of Malacca, and of the thousand spice 
islands which form a bridge almost to Japan. Marco 
Polo's personal travels gave consolidation to the. geography 
of Aristotle, and led Columbus to his fruitful determina- 
tion to find India by sailing westward to its Japanese 
extremity, and converting its idol-worshippers to Christ. 
This vast and magnificent India was washed by one Eastern 
Ocean, the periodicity of the monsoons and currents of 
which early came to be understood and used with wonder- 
ful skill. That ocean was to the eastern half of the 
ancient world what the Mediterranean was to the western. 
Traders and missionaries sailed its waters. It was to the 
Greater India, the India of us moderns, that Pantsenus 
went, called thereto, like Paul a century before him to 
Macedonia and Malta, to Spain and Italy, in Mediterranean 
ships. What sort of a man was this whose name stands 
at the head of the golden book of Christ's missionaries 
to India, as Patrick's and Columba's among our British 
missionary forefathers % 



12 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Thanks to his own great disciples, Clement and Origen, 
to Jerome also and the historian Eusebius, we have little 
difficulty in realising the training, the character, and the 
influence of Pantsenus, though none of his writings save 
a few pregnant extracts have survived. Is it not possible 
that some of his commentaries may yet be discovered in 
the Fayum of Egypt, which is proving so fertile in such 
treasures ? Pantsenus first comes before us as the earliest 
example of a Greek scholar who brought his philosophy 
to the feet of Christ, and humbly used his learning in the 
service of the Cross. Born in Athens, unless Clement's 
admiring reference to his industry and fertility as " the 
Sicilian bee" points to Sicily as the home of his youth, 
Pantsenus was of the Stoic school, though, with the 
eclecticism of his age, he mastered the Platonism of Pytha- 
goras. The one taught him " righteousness together with 
godly knowledge." According to Clement, the other gave 
him juster conceptions of God and of spiritual things. 
Both the duty and the faith thus imperfectly learned 
found their sanction and their completion in the Christ of 
the evangelists, in the testimony of Jesus, which is the 
spirit of the Old Testament, of the psalmists, and the 
prophets. Thus, as a learned thinker and master of the 
non-Christian philosophy of his day, Pantsenus became 
fitted to be the first missionary to the Brahmans and the 
Buddhists, who at that time had most fully developed 
their systems. He was the appropriate predecessor of 
Carey and Martyn, of Duff and Wilson, of French and 
Caldwell, of Judson and Scudder. It does not appear 
whether Pantsenus was called from Paganism by the 
forgiveness of sins as was Clement, who after studying 
under the greatest Christian teachers in Greece and Syria 
and Italy, settled in Egypt, because he there met with 
Pantsenus, described by him as " a very great Gnosticus, 
who had penetrated most profoundly into the spirit of 
Scripture." 

To consecrated learning and the mastery of his op- 
ponents' system of error, Pantsenus added the second 
essential qualification of a missionary to the Brahmans — 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 13 

he was the greatest teacher of his age, and exercised a 
fascination over the minds of his students. Appointed 
by the Bishop of Alexandria sole catechist of the School 
of the Catechumens, which had been established for the 
instruction of the heathen in the facts and the doctrines of 
Christianity, Pantaenus made the Didaskaleion not only 
the nursery of men like Clement and Origen, but the 
training school of missionaries who went forth over North 
Africa, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Southern Asia. Of that 
college he was the famous principal certainly in or before 
the year 180 A.D., according to Eusebius. Fronted at that 
time by the great heathen institution, the Serapeum, as the 
modern missionary colleges are in the Egypt of this day 
by the Azhar Madrissa, and in India by the Government, 
the Hindu, and the Mohammedan colleges, the truth taught 
by Pantaenus in time swept error away. The Greek 
Platonist, Dion Chrysostom, who died not long before the 
birth of Pantaenus, writes of " Ethiopians, Arabians, Bactri- 
ans, Scythians, Persians, and Indians nocking to Alexandria." 
Even then the third of the three qualifications essential to a 
successful missionary of Christ was possessed by Pantaenus 
in an unusual degree — he knew and he loved to expound 
the Word of God. This, indeed, came to take precedence 
of his Christian philosophy and to afford the vehicle for 
his learning. We find Eusebius, while he describes Clement 
as " a most excellent teacher and shining light of Christian 
philosophy," declaring that Pantaenus " was distinguished 
as an expositor of the Word of God." In another place 
the same historian discriminates the latter as one who, in 
his literary works, " interpreted the treasures of the divine 
dogmas," while Jerome records that he left many com- 
mentaries on the Scriptures. Truly this missionary 1 

1 Of Church historians Neander, as usual, and the eloquent French 
senator and pastor, Dr. E. de Pressense, have alone done justice to 
Pantaenus, of whose mission the latter writes : — " Happy is the age in 
which scientific theology is not severed from active and militant piety, 
in which a man gave his whole self to the cause and heroically carried 
into practice that which he eloquently taught in theory " (vol. ii. p. 
271, cap. ii. of second book of The Earlier Years of Christianity). 



14 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

had his message in the life-giving oracles of God with 
their self - evidencing power, as few of his later suc- 
cessors had till Wiclif and Luther gave the peoples of 
Christendom the Scriptures in their own tongues, and 
Carey began to do the same for the races of Southern 
Asia. 

At some time between the years 180 and 190 the 
Bishop of Alexandria received an appeal from the Chris- 
tians in India to send them a missionary. Probably the 
applicants were students of the catechetical school. What 
so natural as that Pantsenus, himself a presbyter, whom 
long after, writing in the seventh century, Anastasius of 
Sinai describes as "priest of the Church of the Alex- 
andrians," should be chosen 1 In one of his epistles Jerome 
writes that " Pantsenus was sent to India that he might 
preach Christ among the Brahmans." He would be the 
less unwilling to go that Clement was ready to take his 
place during his absence. He would be the more eager 
to go that he might give to the churches founded by Jewish 
Hellenists fuller instruction in the new canonical writings, 
that he might make them, missionary lights to all around, 
and that he might bring back with him new facts and 
followers whereby to quicken the zeal of the Alexandrian 
Church. We can picture him in those days sailing up 
the Nile to Coptos, and thence on an eleven days' journey 
crossing the Thebaid, then a highway now a desert, 
to the great port of Berenice, at which the treasures of 
India were received from the traders. Taking ship down 
the Eed Sea at the beginning of September, to catch the 
trade winds, looking in on the Christians at Aden, tarrying 
a little to refit with those at Sokotra, and then spread- 
ing his sails for the south-west monsoon to carry him 
quickly, he would reach the coast of Malabar in forty 
days. How long he was there, how far inland he travelled, 
and when he returned, we know not. This characteristic 
fact, however, we have, that he found among them the 
Hebrew or Aramaic Gospel of St. Matthew, which formed 
the basis of our Greek evangel, said to have been taken 
to them by the apostle Bartholomew. All that this 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 15 

apostolic reference means is that the Jewish Christians 
in India were a colony from some place where Bartholomew 
had founded the Christian Church after Stephen's martyr- 
dom. Pantaenus went back to Alexandria, relieved 
Clement, and continued to preside over the College of the 
Catechumens, probably through the reign of the Emperor 
Severus, or till 211 A.D. Jerome places him even in the 
reign of his successor, and the Eoman Martyrology com- 
memorates the first great missionary to India on the 7th 
day of July every year. 

Of the apostolic or earliest Christians in the Indiar. 
region we hear nothing for a century till about the timo 
that Constantine established the Church. Then, according 
to the learned Arian historian, Philostorgius, there arrived 
in Europe from the island Diu or Sokotra one whom we 
would now describe as a missionary on furlough, Theophilus 
surnamed Indicus. From his native island he had visited 
India itself, where he found Christianity already planted. 
The statement that he " had only to correct, certain things 
there " introduces us to the next missionary name of Nes- 
torius. Evidently the Christian Churches of India had 
always looked to Persia as their origin. At the Council 
of Nicsea in 325, Johannes, the Metropolitan of Persia, 
signed also as "of the Great India." This probably 
implied little more than an episcopal claim to what had 
always, as in the Book of Esther, been considered a pro- 
vince of the Persian empire. But it shows, thus early, 
the ecclesiastical connection between Persia and India 
historically. So early as 334 Merv was an episcopal see. 

The scene now shifts from Alexandria to Antioch, from 
the beginning of the third to that of the fifth century. 
The subjective, intuitive attitude of the Alexandrian writers 
to the person of Christ, which while dwelling on his 
Divinity ended in the Monophysite view, has given place to 
the rationalising of the Antiochene school, which, exalting 
the human side of the Lord, finally taught His double per- 
sonality. The heresy of Arius had meanwhile arisen. 
While Pantaenus stands at the head of the evangelicalism 
which has ever since carried to Asia the missionary message 



IS THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, Nes- 
torius is the representative of those who preach a Christ 
less than Divine, and who have therefore ever failed to 
convert mankind. Nestorianism became such a compro- 
mise with heathenism as led to Mohammed's teaching ; it 
supplanted in India the apostolic Churches confirmed by 
Pantsenus, and it has ever since fossilised the Syrian 
Church there while making it powerless against the 
persecutions of Portuguese Catholicism. This fact 
of compromise must be remembered when we proceed 
to look at the otherwise bright missionary progress 
of Nestorian Christianity in Asia, Central, East, and 
South. 

Let us take our stand in the city of Mesopotamian 
Edessa, to which Seleucus gave the name of the original 
seat of the Macedonian race that had conquered the world 
up to the Indus and the Jumna. There, on a northern 
affluent of the Euphrates, Eusebius the historian found a 
letter in the Syriac language, which the Church believed 
to have been written to its ruler Abgar by Christ Him- 
self. However spurious the correspondence, the story 
marks the spot as the earliest region to receive the 
light of the gospel. It became gradually the greatest 
ecclesiastical school in Asia, rivalling that of Alexandria 
for the West, and ultimately supplanting it. It was to 
Edessa that Miesrob, the greatest Armenian Father and 
translator of the first complete vernacular version of the 
Bible in 410, sent Moses Chorenensis and his ablest followers. 
To Edessa students flocked from all Asiatic Christendom. 
When Nestorius and Cyril, like Arius and Athanasius, had 
buried their controversy in the grave, and the Council of 
Ephesus was over, the conflict broke out afresh in Edessa 
and the neighbouring school of Nisibis. It ended in the 
year 499 in the synod which fully accepted the Nestorian 
teaching, and added to that the right of the bishops and 
priests to marry. This return to apostolic liberty and 
example removed one great objection of the Zoroastrian 
fire -worshippers to the Christian Church. Nestorian 
Christianity became popular in Persia, became ready to 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 17 

influence and conciliate the new enemy which was about 
to burst forth from the sands of Arabia, to prove the 
scourge of the mediaeval world and the tyrant of Asia to 
the present century. Like the Arian Ulfilas, however, 
and the Greek Church to this day, the Nestorian 
missionary Church, under the old impulse of Theodore 
of Antioch and Mopsuestia, was ever enthusiastic in 
expounding and spreading abroad the Word of Cod. 

From the year 500 x the missionaries of Edessa, Nisibis, 
and the metropolitan see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, went every- 
where abroad preaching the word. What an opportunity 
the Nestorian Church had ! All Central, Southern and 
Eastern Asia was at its feet. The sixth century was a 
crisis in the history of Christianity and the human race, 
as the sixteenth and now the nineteenth have been. Mo- 
hammed was about to rise, and to add to the half truth of 
Nestorianism as to the nature and person of Jesus Christ 
the whole lie of his own call and inspiration. Not yet, 
however, were the unevangelised millions of Asia, from the 
Red Sea to the Pacific Ocean, to see Islam with the sword 
offered to them as the rival of Christ with the Cross of 
peace to sinners, purity to the forgiven, and life to the 
world. Christianity had at least a whole century's chance 
to reform its Church, and transform Asia for ever. But 
it failed, because its message was not the fulness of that 
proclaimed by the Christ of John's Gospel. 

The settlements that had gone forth from Persia and 
Alexandria to India, holding apostolical truth and doubt- 
less propagating it, seem to have been the earliest to 
conform to the Nestorian teaching and practice as fixed 
by the Synod of Seleucia. All around that province the 
savage Turanian peoples, whose descendants afterwards 
deluged Europe — Huns and Slavs, also within Persia 
Bactrians, Medes, Elamites, and Koords — received the mis- 
sionary with his Bible. Before the Mohammedans had 

1 Arnobius (a.d. 300) writes of the Christian deeds done in India 
and among the Seres, Persians, and Medes. Nestorian monks brought 
the eggs of the silkworm to Constantinople in A.D. 551, and these had 
resided long in China. 





18 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

burst out of Arabia Nestorians were preaching Christ in 
farthest China and even in the islands of Japan. Timo- 
theus, who was Nestorian Patriarch from the year 778 
to 820, was most active in sending forth missionaries. 
Two are especially named, Cardag and Jabdallaha, who 
reported such conversions that they were ordained bishops, 
and were instructed, if they were called on to ordain a 
native bishop in the distant savage lands which they 
evangelised, to associate with themselves one of the 
Gospels as the third bishop necessary for ordination. One 
David was ordained bishop for China. When the Arab 
traveller of the ninth century, Ibn-Wahab, was in China, 
he found in the Emperor's court figures of our Lord and 
of the apostles, and the Emperor had been so far in- 
structed, that he said Christ had discharged the office of a 
teacher on earth for thirty months. 

Fortunately for the annals of Christianity at the 
darkest period and in lands like India, where the first 
principles of historical evidence are unknown, we have 
written on living stone, and preserved to the present day, 
the records of the missionary enterprise of the Nestorians 
from Cape Comorin to far Cathay, and a statement of their 
missionary teaching. There are no epigraphic witnesses 
more genuine and reliable than the inscriptions on the 
Nestorian Tablet of Si-ngan-fu in North- Western China, 
and those around the. three Persian crosses of St. Thomas's 
Mount, Madras, and the Kottayam church in Travankor. 
These, related to each other by the old Syriac characters 
known as Estrangelo, common to all four, are eloquent 
witnesses from so early a period as the year 635 A.D., and 
into the eighth century. We owe the rediscovery and 
preservation of the former, in recent times, to one of the 
most learned and cautious of American scholars, Edward 
E. Salisbury, Professor of Arabic and Sanskrit in Yale, 
New Haven. 

In the year 1625 a Chinese labourer, digging the 
foundations of a house in the ruins of the old Tartar 
capital of Si-ngan-fu in Shen-si, unearthed a great slab, 
seven and a half feet high by three feet wide, and covered 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 19 

with Chinese characters surrounded by others then un- 
known in China. The Jesuit missionaries there, notably 
Alvarez Semedo, sent home an account of the treasure, 
which was first made known to Europe by Kircher in his 
Prodromus Copticus in 1636. Those who treated the 
inscription as a fabrication of the Jesuits he contemptu- 
ously answered in his China Illustrata, in which he published 
a copy of the original with a very imperfect Latin rendering 
(16*67). It was clearly unlikely, indeed impossible, that 
the Jesuits should fabricate an inscription which reflected 
glory on their Nestorian predecessors, whom they per- 
secuted and finally extinguished, except in South India, 
where the Dutch and the English saved a great remnant 
of them by destroying the Portuguese power. Semedo, 
who first reported the discovery, when moved to Cran- 
ganor, the old centre of the Nestorians on the Malabar 
coast of India, consulted his brethren there as to the 
strange characters surrounding the Chinese, and they at 
once recognised these as the old Syriac with which the 
Syrian Christians there are familiar. The Nestorian 
Tablet continued to excite the discussion of the learned 
without definite result, until the American Oriental Society, 
in 1853, put the facts to the test in the light of modern 
scholarship. While Voltaire had scoffed and Bishop 
Home had doubted, the learned S. Assemanus, Mosheim 
in his Historia Tartarorum, Abel-R6musat, and Klaproth 
accepted it. He who is still the greatest historian of 
the Christian Church, Neander, accordingly suspended his 
judgment. 

In 1852, when the missionary Dr. Bridgman was on 
furlough in America, Professor Salisbury was induced by 
his conviction of the genuineness of the inscription to 
examine the whole subject anew. The result of the 
paper, 1 which he read on the 14th October 1852, was that 
the American Oriental Society addressed each of the 
missionaries of the United States then in China, request- 
ing that the stone be visited again, and that a facsimile of 

1 Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. iv. for 1853, pp. 
401-419. 



20 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

the inscription be taken by a competent person. Fortu- 
nately one of the greatest sinologues, Mr. A. Wylie, 1 was 
available, and to him the request was referred by Dr. 
Bridgman. The result in due time was the masterly 
article by Mr. Wylie, reprinted from the North China 
Herald in volume v. of the Journal of the American Oriental 
Society, which its committee of publication declared to be 
conclusive. Since that time the good work of Salisbury 
and Wylie has been carried farther by the Baron Von 
Bichthofen, of Berlin, who spent years in China, where he 
took an absolutely accurate " rubbing " of the inscriptions. 
That has been reproduced on a small scale and with 
exquisite accuracy by Sir Henry Yule in the second 
edition of his Booh of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, 2 where 
he describes and comments on the Chinese and Syrian 
characters. The genuineness of this precious testimony 
is for ever established. 

It is well that Professor Salisbury and the American 
Oriental Society moved when they did, for in the present 
year 1893, the latest missionary who has visited the spot 
reports the covering put up by the Chinese authorities to 
protect the monument as levelled, and the stone as laid 
low and part of the inscription as defaced. The local 
priests ascribe the ruin to a great wind, but it is believed 
to have been due to malicious hands. 

Apart from the internal evidence of the inscription, 
which Mr. Wylie translates, he cites seventeen native 
(non-Christian) authors, each of whom treats it as both 

1 Alexander Wylie was of Scottish parents, educated in Scotland, a 
cabinetmaker, learnt Chinese, went out as agent of the Bible Society 
to print the Chinese Bible at Shanghai in 1847 ; travelled from 
St. Petersburg to Peking (the first to do so) in 1863; wandered in 
seventeen provinces of China (all but one of its eighteen) ; retired 
from the Bible Society service in 1877 from failing sight ; died blind 
in 1887, aged 72. His Bible in China, 1868, is said to be "an 
interesting though brief account of Christian work, from the earliest 
times, going back to the Nestorians," etc. Sir Thos. Wade and Dr. 
Legge speak of him in highest terms as a Christian and a sinologue 

2 Vol. ii. page 22. 



iflBW 



WmmA 



W$m 



* * *• £* *J *V % a *-■£ <£*•/! -J- -J- i a/i % t> + 5- 

1 . : I ! - < J 3 

,■•! .,; ,'i «.;; ='■: -,Va:= ?i -;v;.r,: -t >,; .fy. it o ,,, ■,;,&-■?;,.<; ,,_ ■-., 

• , i '. ',<! , ', >, , ; 

* 6-Jta >* «. * »a a ".-■ i i" .*, :,: <\ * ;■■' .^ -:, « ■» ?,, 4 ■<<; ■-- «. .- ; , 



„. «, *■ ,., tv s'l - '- ■■: -i'- 'A im -ft. ij A !. t ~ »/ H- <;( ; a. ,i ,W >;. 
i ] < ^ * ' el , | 




CHRISTIAN IXSCIillTloV i.F SI-XCAH-FO tS 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 2l 

genuine and authentic while having something peculiar to 
record regarding it. The imperial proclamation of a.d. 746 
which it contains is found in a contemporary book, and 
the fact that a foreign temple stood on the very spot 
indicated on the Tablet is recorded in the works of two 
dynasties. Mr. Wylie traces the influence of the three 
national religious sects in the phraseology of the inscrip- 
tion. The writer was evidently a convert well versed in 
Confucian lore. The tenets of the Christian faith are 
"clothed in an elegance of diction unobjectionable even 
to Chinese taste." The nomenclature of the various 
ecclesiastical institutions shows a Buddhist tendency. 
Taouist phraseology is conspicuous in the edict of 
toleration. 

The main inscription, which is of great length and 
beautiful execution, consists of 1780 Chinese characters. 
Mr. Wylie's version of it deserves reproduction, with that 
of the ode which follows it, and that of the Syriac. The 
Alopan or Olopan mentioned is pronounced by Sir Henn~ 
Yule to be the Chinese form of the Syriac word for 
monk, "Kabban." 

The Tablet, which describes itself as "eulogising the 
propagation of the Illustrious Eeligion in China, with a 
preface ; composed by King-tsing, a priest of the Syrian 
Church," begins with an account of creation by "our 
eternal true Lord God, triune and mysterious in sub- 
stance. He appointed the cross as the means for 
determining the four cardinal points. . . . He then 
made the first man pure and unostentatious, until 
Satan introduced the seeds of falsehood. . . . There- 
upon our Trinity being divided in nature, the illustrious 
and honourable Messiah, veiling his true dignity, appeared 
in the world as a man ; angelic powers promulgated the 
glad tidings, a virgin gave birth to the Holy One in Syria, 
a bright star announced the felicitous event, and Persians 
observing the splendour came to present tribute. The 
ancient dispensation as declared by the twenty-four holy 
men was then fulfilled, and He laid down great principles 
for the government of families and kingdoms ; He 



22 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

established the new religion of the silent operation of the 
pure Spirit of the Triune, He rendered virtue subservient 
to direct faith. . . . Having thus completed the manifesta- 
tion of His power in clear day He ascended to His true 
station. Twenty-seven sacred books have been left, which 
disseminate intelligence by unfolding the original trans- 
forming principles. By the rule for admission it is the 
custom to apply the water of baptism." 

These extracts show the comparative purity of the teach- 
ing of the Nestorian missionaries as received by a Confucian, 
and expressed in old Chinese style. These historical facts 
follow that, in the time of the Emperor Tae-tsung, " among 
the holy men who arrived was the Most-virtuous Alopan 
from the court of Syria. ... In the year A.D. 635 he ar- 
rived at Chang-gang. The sacred books were translated in 
the imperial library ; the sovereign investigated the subject 
in his private apartments • when becoming deeply im- 
pressed with the rectitude and truth of the religion he 
gave special orders for its dissemination." Then follows 
his proclamation, which informed the millions of Cathay, 
"in the seventh month of the year A.D. 638," that Chris- 
tianity "has taken its rise from the establishment of im- 
portant truths ; its ritual is free from perplexing expres- 
sions, its principles will survive when the framework is 
forgot, it is beneficial to all creatures, it is advantageous 
to mankind." The result is told, and the inscription con- 
tinues : " While this doctrine pervaded every channel the 
state became enriched, and tranquillity abounded. Every 
city was full of churches." The closing passage tells how 
" our great benefactor E-sze . . . from the distant city of 
Eajagriha, came to visit China," and "practising the dis- 
cipline of the illustrious religion he distributed his riches 
in deeds of benevolence." At the same time, we know 
that the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Tsang was visiting India 
to worship at its Buddhist shrines, Eajagriha among them. 
In Cathay, as in India, Buddhism and Brahmanism pre- 
vailed, while the Christians were persecuted by the 
Mohammedans, from their first conquest of Persia to the 
butcheries perpetrated by Timur, the sixth in descent 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 23 

from whom, Baber, founded in 1526 the Mogul dynasty 
at Delhi. 

The Chinese portion of the Si-ngan-fu Tablet concludes 
with an ode, of which these two verses, as translated by 
Wylie, refer specially to Christianity, while the others 
record the prosperity of the successive emperors who pro- 
fessed the new faith. 

" When the pure, bright, Illustrious religion 
Was introduced to our Tang dynasty, 
The Scriptures were translated and churches built, 
And the vessel set in motion for the living and the dead ; 
Every kind of blessing was then obtained, 
And all the kingdoms enjoyed a state of peace. 
• •••••• 

The true doctrine how expansive ! 
Its responses are minute ; 
How difficult to name it ! 
To elucidate the Three in One." 

The two lines of Syriac in the Estrangelo character, run- 
ning down the right and left sides of the Chinese, are 
thus translated by Kircher — 

"Adam, Deacon, Vicar -episcopal, and Pope of China, 
In the time of the Father of Fathers, the Lord John Joshua, the Universal 
Patriarch." 

In Syriac also, at the foot, is an account of Adam, his 
father, "priest of Balkh, a city of Turkestan," and his 
archdeacon. On the left-hand edge of the stone are the 
Syriac names of sixty -seven priests, and of sixty-one in 
Chinese. 

The Tablet was next visited and described by Dr. 
Alexander Williamson in 1866, when on a tour for the 
National Bible Society of Scotland, in North China, Man- 
churia, and Eastern Mongolia. After preaching in the 
great city of Si-ngan-fu, to which his passport admitted 
him, he left it by the west gate, crossed a desolated tract, 
then a field of wheat, and leaping a ruined wall, he found 
the Tablet " perfect, with not a scratch on it, in a brick 
enclosure facing the south." "The preserving care of a 



24 THE CONVERSION OE INDIA 

wise Providence was the first thought in our minds, for 
this Tablet not only enumerates all the leading doctrines 
of our holy religion, but is a most important witness in 
favour of our faith in opposition both to the heathen and 
the Romanist." Since Mr. Wylie's visit, he found on the 
edge of the stone on the left side an inscription to the 
effect that, in the ninth year of Hiengfung (1859 A.D.), one 
Han-tai-wha, from Woo-lin, had found the characters and 
ornamentation perfect, and had rebuilt the brick covering. 
The stone is a coarse marble, and was then rebuilt in the 
brick wall where it had once stood outside the city. The 
Professor of Chinese at Yale College, S. Wells Williams, 
LL.D., in The Middle Kingdom, reproduces Wylie's transla- 
tion as marked by "a fulness and a care which leaves 
little to be desired." 1 

We owe to the late Dr. Burnell, the most distinguished 
scholar of the Indian Civil Service in his day, the best 
account of the three Persian crosses of South India with 
their old Syriac inscriptions. 2 So early as 1802 Mr. F. 
Wrede, of the same service, wrote what is still the best 
account of the "St. Thome Christians on the Coast of 
Malabar," in the Asiatick Researches 3 of the Bengal Society, 
founded by Sir William Jones, and the parent of all sub- 
sequent Oriental societies. He was the first to expose the 
legend of the arrival and martyrdom of the apostle 
Thomas in India, and in this all scholars now agree. 4 Dr. 
Burnell is inclined to substitute Mani and the Manichaeans 
as probably the first preachers before 272 A.D., and he 
makes the Nestorians later, but on insufficient grounds. 
His service consists in bringing to notice the many Pahlavi 5 
inscriptions which are known to have existed all over 

1 Vol. ii. p. 277 of the revised edition. London, 1883. 

2 The Indian Antiquary for November 1874, p. 308, then edited by 
Dr. Burgess CLE. 

3 Vol. vii. p 362. 

4 See Syriac Documents Attributed to the First Three Centuries, as 
translated in Messrs. T. and T. Clark's Ante-Nicene Christian Library 
1871. 

6 The literary language of the Persians, or Perso-Sassanians. 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 25 

Southern India, and prove the importance of the Perso- 
Christian settlements. He has reproduced the cross built 
into the wall behind the altar in a church on the Great 
Mount near Madras, and discovered during some Por- 
tuguese excavations about 1547. The slab was then 
accurately described as having on one face a cross in relief, 
with a bird like a dove over it with its wings expanded, 
as the Holy Ghost is usually represented when descending 
on our Lord. Two others are in the old church at Kot- 
tayam. The inscriptions belong to the seventh or eighth 
century, the period of the Si-ngan-fu stone. One of the 
Kottayam tablets has a Syriac 1 inscription, which Dr. 
Burnell believes to be later than the Pahlavi, and to have 
been added to make all orthodox according to Nestorian 
views. The result of repeated readings by himself and 
by Drs. Haug and E. W. West is this — 

Syriac. 

Let me not glory except in the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Pahlavi. 

Who is the true Messiah and God alone and 
Holy Ghost. 

Dr. Burnell, holding to his theory, sees in this statement 
a desire to contradict the Manichsean doctrine, that the 

1 The close and frequent intercourse between Persia and India in 
the early Christian centuries finds a striking literary illustration in 
the mission of the good physician, Barzoi, sent by King Khosru Nushir- 
van (a.d, 531-579) to India to procure a copy of the earliest of all 
collections of stories with a moral. Barzoi, if not altogether then 
"almost" a Christian, translated into Pahlavi many of the Sanskrit 
books, but particularly the Panchatantra, or "five books," and three 
tales in the Mahabharata epic, forming the collection Kalilah and 
Dimnah, as told by Bidpai, the " Pilpay" of modern Europe, at his 
sovereign's request. The Pahlavi version was at once, in 570 a.d., 
translated into Syriac by an ecclesiastic named Bod, and into Arabic. 
The former has disappeared, but the latter version was translated into 




:1E OI.DI.ST CHRISTIAN INSCR] 



INDIA— SEVENTH 



26 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

crucified Messiah was the son of a poor widow and not 
Jesus Christ. Dr. Milne Eae 1 traces in this the Nestorian 
teaching of the incarnation of the Godhead, not of the 
Logos only — that each of the three Persons of the Holy 
Trinity was incarnate in the Christ. However this may be, 
all true Christians will rejoice in the evidence that links the 
earliest attempts at the conversion of India not only with 
the once doubting Thomas, but with the mighty apostle 
of the Gentiles, and his glorying in the crucified One 
(Galatians vi. 14). And we may note that the Syrian 

Syriac again by a Christian priest in the tenth and eleventh centuries. 
This later Syriac version was rendered into English, with learned 
critical notes, by the Hon. I. G. N. Keith-Falcbner, M.A., in 1885 
(for the Syndics of Cambridge University Press). Two years after 
that devoted Christian scholar went to South Arabia to found the 
mission which, after his early death, bears his name. 

1 The Syrian Church in India (Edinburgh, 1892). For the recent 
history and present position of the Nazarani of Malabar, see that 
volume ; also Collins's Missionary Enterprise in the East, and 
Whitehouse's Syrian Church of Malabar, both published in 1873. 
Dr. Germanns's Die Kirche der Thomaschristen (Gutersloh, 1877, 792 
pp.) is a thorough history from St. Thomas to Mar Ignatius, the 
Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, who appeared at the Brighton Church 
of England Congress in 1874 en route to Malabar, but of no critical 
value. It does not, however, refer to Captain Swanston's three 
invaluable papers — " Memoir of the Church of Malayala " in the Royal 
Asiatic Society's Journal for 1834-35. The latest account of the 
Christians is the hopeful statement made by the Anglican, clergy in 
Travankor and Cochin to Lord Wenlock, Governor of Madras, when 
in 1892, accompanied by Bishop Hodges, he visited Kottayam : — "Many 
abuses which shocked the early missionaries have been removed. Ver- 
nacular preaching by better educated Kattanars has become common ; 
and the Syrian Christians, whether those calling themselves children 
of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, or those following the Reforming 
Metrans, have one godly feature in common with the Anglican Church, 
namely, a growing appreciation and reverence for the Word of God in 
the vernacular. Furthermore, it is only due to the Syrian Church to 
say that the co-operation and assistance of the Anglican clergy is often 
welcomed, and it might be further developed but for the immediate 
charge of their own flocks, at present numbering over twenty-five 
thousand people " 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 27 

characters added to the inscription in each case bring 
together the public confession of Christ by the Churches 
of Malabar and Coromandel, and that of the old capital of 
far Cathay. 

In the Chaldaean Breviary of the Church of India in 
Malabar the office of St. Thomas thus conmiemorates its 
legendary origin : " By St. Thomas were the errors of idol- 
atry banished from among the Indians. By St. Thomas 
were the Chinese and the Ethiopians converted to the truth." 
And this anthem further links together the three missionary 
conquests of the Nestorian Church : " The Hindus and the 
Chinese and the Persians, and all the people of the isles of the 
sea, and they who dwell in Syria and Armenia, in Javan and 
Bomania, call Thomas to remembrance and adore Thy Name, 
Thou, our Redeemer." But the evidence, at once the 
saddest and the most overpowering, of the extent and the 
influence of the first missionary organisation in Asia is 
seen in its persecution by Shahpoor II. of Persia in 
339, 340, who sought to extirpate it, when Constantine 
identified the Empire with the Christian Church. No- 
where is there such a record of suffering to the death for 
Christ, with occasional apostasy, as in the Syrian Acts of 
Persian Martyrs. The persecution lasted for forty years ; 
but the Church was not suppressed even in its head- 
quarters of Nisibis, which was twice besieged, nor was 
the Armenian Church destroyed. By the sixth century it 
covered the western coast of India and the island of Ceylon, 
by the seventh it was tolerated, and by the eighth — as we 
have seen — it was encouraged by imperial decree in China. 

We have what may be most justly described as the 
first India Mission Report written in 547, or thirteen 
and a half centuries ago, by the man who comes next to 
Pantaenus in the history of the Church of India — Cosmas, 
Indian navigator and monk. This work is the Universal 
Christian Topography, XpKTrio.vLKr] To7roypacf>La Travrbs KocrjJLOv, 
written at the request of his friend Pamphilus, at first in 
six books, and then gradually increased to twelve, of 
which the last alone is imperfect. Intending only, as 
Gibbon puts it, to confute the impious heresy of those 



28 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

who maintain that the earth is a globe and not a flat 
oblong table, as represented in the Scriptures, Cosmas, 
who was no less wise than the clerical assailants of geology 
a generation ago, left the most suggestive missionary and 
geographical treatise up to William Carey's Enquiry and 
David Livingstone's Travels in our own time. He was the 
classical precursor of Livingstone, indeed, as the traveller 
who was the first to make Geography, Commerce, and 
Industry the handmaids of Christian missions. 

Cosmas was a merchant of Alexandria and frequent 
navigator to the East, in the reign of the Emperor 
Justinian. From the Mediterranean down the Red Sea to 
the Persian Gulf and the Bay of Bengal this Indico- 
pleustes, as he was surnamed, pursued his adventurous 
calling. Nor was he content with the sea and the 
commercial settlements which dotted its coasts from the 
Pharos to far Taprobane. Well educated, his observant 
eye and inquisitive mind investigated the history, the 
character, and the customs of the peoples of the East, and 
his ready pen recorded the results in many a work that 
has not survived. When, for instance, he had done his 
business at Adule, the Red Sea port of Ethiopia, he found 
out and copied inscriptions, one of which describes the 
conquest of the Asiatic empire of the Seleucidge by 
Ptolemy Euergetes, B.C. 247-222, which led scholars to 
inquire into and establish the history of the campaigns. 
Wearied with much globe-trotting, as it is now called, and 
an ardent student of Scripture, the Alexandrian merchant 
and sailor became a monk, and gave up the rest of his 
days to what so good a critic as Canon Yenables describes 
as vivid descriptions of the countries he had visited, and 
the remarkable facts he had observed or learned. His 
Christian Topography is illustrated by sketches and diagrams 
from his own hand. 

He represents the four gulfs as seas which enter the 
land from the ocean, then impossible to navigate on 
account of the multitude of the currents and fogs, as the 
Roman or Mediterranean, the Arabian or Erythraean, the 
Persian, and the Caspian or Hircanian. "I myself," he 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 29 

writes, " for purposes of trade have sailed on three out of 
those four gulfs : to wit, the Eoman, the Arabian, and the 
Persian ; and I have got accurate information about the 
different places on them from the natives as well as from 
seafaring men." The most precious passage of the whole 
work is the following, which surveys the preaching of the 
gospel throughout the world five centuries after our 
Lord's death. It might be mistaken for part of a modern 
missionary history : — 

' ' So that I can speak with confidence of the truth of what I say, 
relating what I have myself seen and heard in many places that I have 
visited. 

" Even in the Island of Taprobane, in Farther India, where the Indian 
Sea is, there is a Church of Christians with clergy and a congregation 
of believers, though I know not if there be any Christians farther on 
in that direction ; and such is also the case in the land called Male, 
where the pepper grows. And in the place called Kalliana there is a 
bishop appointed from Persia as well as in the isle called the Isle of 
Dioscoris in the same Indian Sea. The inhabitants of that island 
speak Greek, having been originally settled there by the Ptolemies 
who ruled after Alexander of Macedon. There are clergy there also 
ordained and sent from Persia to minister among the people of the 
island and a multitude of Christians. We sailed past the island, but 
did not land. I met, however, with people from it who were on their 
way to Ethiopia, and they spoke Greek. And so likewise among the 
Bactrians, and Huns, and Persians, and the rest of the Indians, and 
among the Persarmenians, and Greeks, and Elamites, and throughout the 
whole land of Persia, there is an infinite number of churches with 
bishops and avast multitude of Christian people, and they have many 
martyrs and recluses leading a monastic life. So also in Ethiopia and 
in Axum, and in all the country round about ; among the Happy 
Arabians, who nowadays are called Homeritse, and all through Arabia 
and Palestine, Phoenicia, and all Syria, and Antioch, and Mesopo- 
tamia, also among the Nubians and the Garamantes, in Egypt, Libya, 
and Pentapolis, and so through Africa and Mauritania as far as 
Southern Gades. In a very great number of places one found churches 
of Christians with bishops, martyrs, monks, and recluses, wherever, in 
fact, the gospel of Christ hath been proclaimed. So likewise, again, 
in Cilicia, Asia, Cappadocia, Larice, and Pontus, and in the northern 
regions of the Scythians, Hyrcanians, Heruli, Bulgarians, Greeks and 
Illyrians, Dalmatians, Goths, Spaniards, Romans, Franks, and other 
nations, till you get to Ocean Gades." 



30 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

"Southern Grades" was the equivalent then for the 
World's End, on the west coast of Africa. " Ocean Gades " 
may well include the British Isles which traded with it. 
Thus this merchant-missionary, in his survey of advancing 
Christendom from his central watch-tower in Alexandria, 
links on the Scoto-Irish Church of the saints with the 
Nestorian Church of Malabar and Ceylon, at the time when 
Justinian was building at Constantinople the great Basilica 
of Saint Sophia, and Columba was training in Iona the 
missionary band who were to flash the light once more 
on Saxon England, and, through Boniface, on still heathen 
Germany, and so to prepare both to light up the torch of 
truth in India. 

Yet, in India, as all over Asia, the Nestorian mission- 
aries failed to create self-propagating Christian Churches, 
when Rome took up the work, and summoned the nations 
of the East also to submit to its sway. At the present 
time the whole number of Syrian Christians 1 in India, 
chiefly in the feudatory state of Cochin, is 200,467, out of 
the 2,284,172 who returned themselves as Christians in the 
imperial census of 1891. This considerable remnant has 
survived first neglect, then the change from the Nestorian 
patriarchate of Babylon in 1665 to the Jacobite patriarchate 
of Antioch, the intolerance of Romanist Portugal, the 
indifference of the Dutch, the reforming efforts of the 
Church Missionary Society and successive Bishops of 
Calcutta, and the enlightenment diffused among its young 
men by such institutions as the Madras Christian College. 
Every eleventh Christian in India still lives on a theo- 
logical past so dead as the middle of the fifth century, still 
holds a metaphysical religion. What Gibbon wrote, in 
his thirty-seventh chapter, of their fathers is still true of 
them : the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies which 
attempted to explain the mystery of the Incarnation, 
hastened the ruin of Christianity in her native land. Be- 

1 For the 200,000 N/estorians in their central seat in Koordistan 
and North Persia, to whom the Archbishop of Canterbury sends a 
mission, see Dean Maclean's book, The Catholicos of the East and His 
People, 1892. See also Gibbon's forty-seventh chapter. 



THE GREEK ATTEMPT 31 

cause their faith was weak, their message mutilated, their 
intellect darkened, and their life selfish, it was not possible 
for the colonies of Syrian and Persian Christians dispersed 
on its southern shores to bring India to Christ. Unpurged 
from the old leaven, it was not for them to leaven the 
whole lump. 



in 

THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 

"Not of works, lest any man should boast." — Ephesians ii. 9. 

The marvel is that Christianity, which in all the circum- 
stances of its environment is Asiatic, did not permeate 
Asia first, did not bring in the elder Aryans of India, and 
then spread over Europe. The process was reversed. 
Taken by Paul from the martyr-teaching of Stephen, and 
the direct revelation of the Lord Himself, and of the Holy 
Spirit, the gospel sought Europe through Macedonia, 
Athens, and Corinth, — through Rome above all. It found 
our fathers as savages in the far West, and has gradually 
given the English-speaking peoples the combined power 
and duty of propagating it in Asia. Christianity trans- 
formed Europe first, because Europe remained true to the 
New Testament teaching of the Incarnation, and rejected 
the Arian heresy. Christianity in Asia yielded first to 
Buddhism, and then to Mohammedanism, which travestied 
its ritual, borrowed its ethics without the motive power, 
and opposed its root ideas, till the Christian became in India 
little more than an addition to the many Brahmanical 
castes. 

Parallel in time with the missionary progress of Chris- 
tianity in Europe, the Saracens carried the Koran and the 
sword of Mohammed all over Western Asia and Northern 
Africa, then threatened Europe itself up .to Vienna, and 
from Spain into the heart of France. In 637 A.D. they 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 33 

seized Jerusalem; in 737 their devastating progress was 
arrested by Charles Martel at Tours, the whole breadth of 
two continents having been covered in a century. The 
answer of the Church of Eome was twofold. The six 
Crusades from 1096 to 1248 familiarised Europe with the 
missionary idea, but achieved no spiritual result, while 
their military failure only strengthened the power of 
Islam. The monastic brotherhoods increased in number 
and took up the missionary cry, " God wills it," some of 
them in a higher sense than the crusading hosts. The 
Italian Francis of Assisi, and the Spaniard Eaymund Lull 
of Majorca, became the most devoted preachers to the 
Mohammedans Christendom had seen. The Castilian 
Dominic founded his order of preachers backed by the 
Inquisition, proclaiming the Pope or the sword. 

But such men were exceptional. And the terror of 
Europe was soon turned from the advance of Islam to the 
rise of another power. At the head of his Mongol hordes, 
Chinghiz Khan (born in 1162, died 1227) conquered 
China, and then the whole of Western Asia from the 
Indies to the Caspian and . European Eussia. The Mon- 
golian dynasty which he founded continued his conquests 
right into the heart of Europe, under Batu at Cracow and 
Breslau, Pesth, and Lignitz, defeating the chivalry of 
Christendom led by Prince Henry of Silesia on the 12th 
April 1241. With the Pope and the Emperor Frederic 
II. at enmity in those days, it seemed as if the end had 
come to the Church of Christ, when the Tartar host dis- 
appeared almost in one hour, recalled by a courier who 
announced the death of the Great Khan (Okkodai) in the 
depths of Asia. 

The defeat near Lignitz thoroughly roused Christendom, 
so that in 1245 the Council of Lyons was summoned by 
Pope Innocent to devise measures for its protection against 
the Tartar enemy. There was also the under-current of 
feeling that the Mongolian hordes had been already so far 
influenced by the Nestorian missionaries as to be ready to 
accept the profession, at least, of Christianity, and Chinghiz 
Khan was by not a few identified with the mysterious 

D 



b4 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Prester John. Was this new people, whose Great Khan 
had beat down Mohammedans over so great a portion of 
Asia, not likely to unite with the West in friendly co-opera- 
tion, and even to accept the spiritual teaching of its Church 1 
At any rate the attempt was made. The new Asiatic 
empire had become tolerant, and it had by its very con- 
quests made journeying at once secure and easy to the 
new capital of Cambaluc or Peking. Hence missionaries 
and travellers, ambassadors and traders, crossed and re- 
crossed Asia with a facility impossible ever since, and 
least of all, at the close of this nineteenth century. One 
chronicler invites the grateful remembrance of all Christian 
people, because "just at the time when God sent forth 
into the eastern parts of the world the Tartars to slay and 
be slain, He also sent forth in the west his faithful and 
blessed servants, Dominic and Francis, to enlighten, in- 
struct, and build up in the faith." 

Then, in Cathay as in Africa in the present day, the 
missionaries of Eome were more diplomatists than evan- 
gelists. Thus early did failure begin to mark their 
mission as it had vitiated that of their predecessors the 
Nestorians, whose churches and followers they frequently 
met with. Their message was imperfect, their methods 
were more of this world than those of Christ Himself, 
their motives were mixed. The first monkish envoy from 
the Pope, sent forth from Lyons in 1245, was an Italian, 
John of Piano Carpini, and he returned from North China 
in 1247 with a haughty reply. His narrative tells of 
Cathayans, on the sea-shore of China, with the Christian 
books, churches, and worship, but unbaptized, evidently 
of Nestorian origin. He was succeeded in 1256 by 
William de Eubruquis, who professed himself a pure 
missionary, but who carried letters from Louis IX. of 
France, and he is the first accurately to describe the 
Chinese hieroglyphic writing. Immediately after him 
Hayton I., king of little Armenia, sent his brother to the 
Khan to do homage as a vassal, and he was absent for 
four years. In a letter to the king and queen of Cyprus, 
sent from Samarkand, the prince writes of Tangut, in 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 35 

Cathay, as the land from which the three kings went to 
Bethlehem to worship Jesus Christ, and adds — " I tell you 
that we have found many Christians scattered all over the 
East, and many fine churches, lofty, ancient, and of good 
architecture, which have been spoiled by the Turks." He 
records how the conquests of the Khans had delivered 
from the cruelty of the Mohammedans a certain Christian 
king in the land of India. King Hay ton himself went to 
the Great Khan's court, and gives a rough account of 
Buddhism. 

By the end of the thirteenth century it seemed to 
depend on an accident whether the prevailing religion in 
Asia might not be Christianity, nominally, at least, like 
Vladimir's in Russia. The Khans, described as " deists," 
had gradually come to accept the policy of uniting with 
the Christian Powers of Europe against the Musalmans, 
as formulated at Lyons. Kublai Khan, the greatest of 
them, was willing to study Latin Christianity, but he was 
denied the opportunity for which he sought. It is Marco 
Polo who records the facts, and no part of his marvellous 
book is so interesting as that record. 

When Nicolas and Maffeo Polo, the father and uncle of 
the great Venetian, first visited his court as teachers, 
Kublai examined them " about the ways of the Latins," 
and sent them back as his envoys to the Pope. In his 
letter, copies of which, dated a century later from the 
Khan of Persia to the King of France, are preserved 
in the French archives, Kublai asked for a hundred 
Christians, " intelligent men acquainted with the seven 
arts," well qualified to enter into controversy, and able 
clearly to prove by force of argument to idolaters and 
other kinds of folk that the law of Christ was best, and 
that all other religions were false and naught ; and that 
if they would prove this he and all under him would be- 
come Christians and the Church's liegemen." This is a 
remarkable document. When we remember the circum- 
stances of the Christian nations of Europe and our own 
Saxon forefathers, we may say that virtually the fate of 
Asia as to prevailing religious belief hung upon it. But 



3() THE CONVERSION OE INDIA 

what was the result ? On their return the two Polos 
found that Pope Clement IV. had just died. Such were 
the factions among the cardinals that no successor was 
elected for three years. When Gregory was chosen in 
1271, he selected Nicolas of Yicenza and William of Tri- 
poli, preaching friars and "unquestionably as learned 
churchmen as were to be found in that day," to accompany 
the Polos, now joined by their young nephew, Marco, to 
the Great Khan. But, alas for the missionary zeal of the 
friars ! they fled back from Layas port in the Levant. 
The three Venetians in due time reached the Khan, who, 
instead of a hundred learned and zealous Christians, had 
to be content with " oil from the sepulchre " at Jerusalem. 
Thus an opportunity was lost for Christianising Asia, 
similar to that which Europe was allowed in the persons 
of Constantine and Clovis, Vladimir and our own 
^Ethelbert. 

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, concerning the 
Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, as newly translated and 
edited with learned notes by the late Colonel Sir Henry 
Yule, LL.D. (2nd edition, 1875), gives a most vivid, de- 
tailed, and accurate picture of the progress and the position 
of Nestorian and Roman Christianity towards the close of 
the thirteenth century under the tolerant sway of the 
Great Khan of Cathay and of the Hindu sovereigns of 
India. As one of Kublai Khan's governors or envoys 
Marco Polo twice visited India. On the first occasion he 
approached it from the Chinese side of Yunan, and spent 
some time in the province of Bangala, which was probably 
the modern Burma then ruled by a Bengal dynasty, and 
included modern Assam and Bengal up to its later Musal- 
man capital of Murshidabad. At a later time he not only 
visited but dwelt in several of the cities and countries of 
Southern India, regarding which, their Brahmans and their 
Christians, he gives us wonderfully correct information. 
Finally, when he, his father, and uncle were reluctantly 
permitted by the Great Khan to leave Cathay in charge of 
a bride for Arghun, Khan of Persia, he touched at Ceylon 
and the extreme south of India again. On his way to 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 37 

Hormuz and at the head of the Persian Gulf he became 
acquainted with the Malabar coast and Western India as 
far as Mekran, to say nothing of Madagascar, Sokotra, the 
east coast of Africa up to Abyssinia, and the islands of the 
Indian Ocean. The port from which he started in 1292 
was Zayton, now Chin Chan in Fokien, which has given to 
our language the word Satin. He tells us of eleven coun- 
tries, in most of which he describes Christian churches, 
using such a sentence as this — " The people are idolaters, 
but there are also some Christians and some Jews." The 
eleven, in their proper geographical order and present 
names, are these, following the coast of the Indian penin- 
sula from east to west, from the Bay of Bengal to the 
Persian Gulf : — Telingana, Madras, Tan j or, Tinnevelli, 
Comorin, Quilon, Cannanor, Bombay, Cambay, Somnath, 
and Mekran. Marco Polo tells also the same story of 
the diamonds of Golconda guarded by serpents, and ob- 
tained by throwing down pieces of flesh which are carried 
off by eagles, that has become well known through the 
Arabian Nights. The earliest mention of this legend is 
by St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, who tells 
it of the jacinth in his account of the twelve jewels in 
the breastplate of the Jewish high priest. 

The rivalry of the Romanist and Nestorian Churches, 
which began in India soon after Marco Polo's visit, and 
the gradual apostasy of not a few communities abandoned 
by the mother Church and without spiritual life, is seen in 
his account of the Island of Sokotra. There, eleven cen- 
turies before, Pantaenus had found earnest disciples of the 
apostolic school, and had confirmed them in the faith. 
Now the Venetian traveller writes, " Their archbishop has 
nothing to do with the Pope of Rome, but is subject to the 
great Archbishop who lives at Baudas (Baghdad). He rules 
over the bishop of that island, and many other bishops in 
those regions of the world, just as our Pope does in these." 
Piracy and witchcraft prevailed, and Islam followed. By 
the middle of the seventeenth century a Carmelite who 
visited the people found them still professing to be 
Christians, but following rites in which the cross, circum- 



38 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

cision, and sacrifices to the moon, were horribly jumbled 
without knowledge. Now the only trace of Christian in- 
fluence in the savage Mohammedan island protected by the 
British Empire, is found in the name of the village Coles- 
seah, which is believed to embody the Greek ekklesia. 
Sokotra is at once a living example of the failure of a false 
or imperfect Christianity to regenerate a people, and a 
warning to the evangelical Church to bear and have 
patience, and for the Name's sake to labour and not 
to faint, as our Lord declared to Ephesus, and again to 
Laodicea — " be zealous and repent." 

The first half of the fourteenth century was, alike in 
India and Cathay, a time of Franciscan and Dominican 
missionary enterprise and Latin commercial activity. The 
Mongol domination kept Islam in check, and promoted 
toleration all over Asia. Marco Polo's spirit and example, 
the wealth he brought, and the stories he told, stirred up 
many followers. John of Monte Corvino was, after him, 
the first of a band of missionaries eager to win the Budd- 
hist, Mohammedan, and Nestorian alike to allegiance to 
the Pope, who made him Archbishop of Peking and Patri- 
arch of a wide region, with the approval of the Great 
Khan. He was the first to begin Boman Catholic missions 
in India. From the crowd of monkish annalists and adven- 
turous travellers, who have left narratives of their ex- 
perience, two missionaries stand out, Friar Jordanus and 
Friar Odoricus, in the century which transferred the 
command of the commerce and the Christianity of the 
people of India from the illustrious republics of Italy to the 
maritime enterprise and fanatical intolerance of Portugal. 

Jordanus, a Dominican born at Severac, near Toulouse, 
was twice in India. He wrote the Mirabilia Descriptor, or 
the Wonders of the East, translated by Sir Henry Yule, with 
a commentary, for the Hakluyt Society. We have also 
two of his Latin letters. The first was addressed to his 
Dominican brethren and to Franciscan missionaries then at 
Tabreez and two other cities in North Persia, since made 
famous by the hardships of Henry Martyn and the toils 
of the Ajuerican missionaries on the plain east of Lake 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 39 

Ooroomia. He urges the despatch of missionaries to the 
three cities in Western and Southern India — of Supera or 
Surat, Paroco or Broach, and Columbum or Quilon. 
Thereupon the Dominican Nicolaus Eomanus at once left 
Persia for India. The second letter, written three years 
after, describes his own journey from Tabreez and voyage 
to Quilon, reversing the route followed by Henry Martyn 
five centuries later, when he took the Word of God to the 
Persians. After a year at Columbum or Quilon Jordanus 
seems to have returned, and to have been sent out again as 
Bishop of Columbum in 1430. The bull of Pope John 
XXII. commends the new prelate to the goodwill of the 
Christians, and invites the Nascarine or Nazarani, the name 
of the Syrian Christians to this day, to abjure their schism 
and enter the unity of the (R.) Catholic Church. On 
the way out Jordanus was entrusted with the pallium 
for the Archbishop of Sultania, between Tabreez and 
Tehran, the old Persian capital to which ecclesiastically 
Columbum was subject, and the ruined camp at which, we 
may add, the dying Martyn in vain sought audience of 
the Shah that he might present his Persian New Testa- 
ment. 

Jordanus was a true missionary, as appears from the 
whole tone of his curious book. He describes the Parsees, 
the casteless aborigines, the Hindu worship of idols, and the 
iconoclasm of the Mohammedan invaders from Mahmood 
of Ghazni's time. He is the first to note the instinctive 
apprehension called prophecy and fully realised by 
England in the Mutiny of 1857, thus — "The pagans of 
this India have prophecies of their own that we Latins are 
to subjugate the whole world." After his survey of the 
non-Christian peoples, closing with the words, "Tis grief 
to hear and woe to see," Jordanus goes on, " In this India 
there is a scattered people, one here another there, who 
call themselves Christians, but are not so, nor have they 
baptism, nor do they know anything else about the faith ; 
nay, they believe St. Thomas the Great to be Christ ! 
There I baptized and brought into the faith about three 
hundred souls, of whom many were idolaters and Saracens. 



40 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

And let me tell you that among the idolaters a man may 
with safety expound the Word of the Lord, nor is any one 
among the idolaters hindered from being baptized through- 
out all the East." The conclusion to which the zealous 
missionary comes is this, that while there is no land equal 
to Christendom, "and above all we have the true faith 
though it be ill kept," " as' God is my witness, ten times 
better Christians and more charitable withal be those who 
be converted by the preaching and Minor friars to our faith 
than our own folk here, as experience hath taught me." 

Jordanus was full of loyalty to the Master's command, 
of faith in His promise, and love to the souls for whom He 
died, presenting in all this a delightful contrast to the 
Abbe Dubois of the same Church and region a century 
ago. The friar's closing words are a summons to all 
Christians — " Of the conversion of those nations of India 
I say this, that if there were two or three hundred good 
friars who would faithfully and fervently preach the 
Catholic faith, there is not a year which would not see 
more than X. thousand persons converted to the Christian 
faith. For whilst I was among those schismatics and unbe- 
lievers, I believe that more than X. thousand or thereabout 
were converted to our faith ; and because we, being few in 
number, could not occupy or even visit many parts of the 
land, many souls (wo is me !) have perished, and exceeding 
many do perish for lack of preachers of the word of the 
Lord." Then after describing that contemporary burst of 
proselytising zeal which carried the Koran to Sumatra and 
Java, — Mohammedan ever since, — Jordanus relates how he 
had been four times cast into prison by the Mohammedans. 
" How many times I have had my hair plucked out and 
been scourged and been stoned God Himself knoweth 
and I, who had to bear all this for my sins, yet have not 
attained to end my life as a martyr for the faith as did 
four of my brethren ! Nay, five preaching friars and four 
Minors were there in my time cruelly slain for the 
Catholic faith. Wo is me that I was not with them 
there ! " 

This introduces us to the story of the Four Martyrs 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 41 

of Thana, near Bombay, which is the brightest episode in 
the generally dark history of early Romanist missions in 
India, after allowing for the legendary allegorical language 
in which it has been preserved to us. We find the details 
in a chronicle of the fourteenth century purporting to have 
been written by Jordanus, and the main facts are vouched 
for not only by his acknowledged work, but by his 
contemporary Odoricus and successor John de Marignola. 
Sent by the Pope, then residing at Avignon, Jordanus 
and his band of missionaries preached their way through 
Persia, departed from Hormuz, landed at Diu off the north 
coast of Bombay, and thence sailed to Thana in 1321. They 
found the Mohammedan fury at its height. In the ab- 
sence of Jordanus on a preaching tour to the north, the 
four missionaries, who were Franciscans, — Thomas, James, 
Demetrius, and Peter, — were accused by one Yusuf before 
the governor, and boldly defended the doctrine of the 
divine Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ, so obnoxious to 
the unitarians of Islam. They were sentenced to death 
by fire. The youngest, James of Padua, to quote the 
chronicler, "a young wrestler for Christ, incontinently 
went into the fire and abode in it until it was well-nigh 
spent, rejoicing and uttering praise, and without any burn- 
ing of his hair even, or of the cloth of his gown." Stripped 
of his garment which, according to the Mussulman tradi- 
tion, was that of Abraham, who when cast into the flames 
at Chaldasa took no hurt, the young confessor was again 
thrown into the furnace, but without harm. The four 
were then set free, but were the night following despatched 
to the joys of heaven. Hastily returning to Thana, Jor- 
danus, helped by a Genoese merchant there, removed the 
precious remains to old Surat, and buried them in a 
church there. Odoric, the Bohemian, a wandering saint, 
accompanied by an Irishman, Friar James, arrived at 
Surat a year after, and carried off the ashes of the four 
martyrs on his fourteen years voyaging to Peking, and 
through Central Asia to Padua, where he told his long story, 
as translated by Sir Henry Yule. To the expressed annoy- 
ance of that great scholar and good Christian, Odoric was 



42 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

made a beatus or semi-saint of the Church of Rome, 
although he showed little of the self-consecration of John 
of Monte Corvino and Jordanus. A quaint bas-relief at 
his shrine at Udine represents a friar of sixty with a 
Socratic countenance preaching to the people of India, while 
a cherub pours a cataract of water on the adoring crowd. 

We may pass over the not infrequent references to 
Christianity in India by Ibn Batuta, of Tangier, the 
remarkable Mohammedan traveller in 1324; by Nicolo 
Conti, the Venetian, who apostatised to save his life in 
1419-1440; by Abd-er-Ruzzak, at the same time, who found 
a Christian as vizier of the sultan of Vijayanagar ; by the 
Russian Mkitin (1468-1474), who recorded that he had 
already passed the fourth great day in a Musalman 
country and had not renounced Christianity ; by the 
Genoese merchant Hieronomo di Santo Stefano (1494- 
1499), and by the Bolognese Ludovico Yarthema (1503- 
1508), who witnessed the- decadence of the Syrian and 
the advent of the Romanist power of Portugal. From 
west and east India is about to be approached by sea. 
Columbus and Da Gama are at hand. 

Hitherto we have traced the failure of missionary 
Christianity because of its giving forth an uncertain or a 
false sound on the central message of Jesus. Christ, or 
because of its using political methods and unspiritual 
weapons which our Lord Himself denounced. Buddhism 
and Islam prevailed in Asia accordingly. Now we come 
to the first example in history of the union of the gospel 
with science, or the use of scientific discovery and 
ascertained truth by Christianity. In the historical 
providence of God, geography and the gospel have worked 
together in a holy and fruitful alliance all through the 
three centuries from Prince Henry the Navigator and 
Christopher Columbus to Walter Raleigh, the Pilgrim 
Fathers, William Carey, and David Livingstone. In these 
men we see Scripture and science united sincerely and 
reverently to bring the world to Christ. Of them all are 
the words of Henry Yule, that great Christian officer and 
geographer, true — their genius and lofty enthusiasm, their 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 43 

ardent and justified previsions mark them as " lights of 
the human race." To the landing of Carey, son of the 
English wool-weaver, at Calcutta on the 10th November 
1793, as to that of Columbus, son of the Genoese wool- 
weaver, on the (West) Indian Island of Guanahani three 
centuries before, we may apply the words in which the 
" Christ-carrier " closed the letter reporting his first voyage 
— " Our Eedeemer hath granted this victory ... an 
event of such high importance in which all Christendom 
ought to rejoice, and which it ought to celebrate with 
great festivals and the offering of solemn thanks to the 
Holy Trinity, with many solemn prayers both for the 
great exaltation which may accrue .... in turning many 
nations to our holy faith, and also for the temporal 
benefits which will bring great refreshment and gain 
.... to all Christians." 

To that noble Prince of Portugal, Henry the Naviga- 
tor (great-grandson of Edward III. of England), who 
chose as his motto, "Talent de Bien Faire," or "the 
desire to do good," we owe the discovery of the Cape 
route to India. When Cape Bojador was passed — the 
first step in the history of African and Indian discovery 
by the east — Prince Henry besought the Virgin that she 
" would guide and set forth the doings in this discovery 
to the praise and glory of God, and to the increase of His 
holy faith." Columbus, as the servant of Spain after His 
own Genoa had refused his offer — Henry VII. of England 
having sent his favourable answer too late — determined, 
with a fanatical resolution, to reach India by the west, 
beginning with his countryman Marco Polo's islands of 
Chipangu (Japan) and Antilla. These were represented 
in the chart of his learned correspondent, Toscanelli of 
Florence, as midway between the coasts of Europe and 
Africa on the east and the coasts of Asia on the west. 
Marco Polo had written of these people as idolaters, and 
" concerning the fashion of the idols," the deeds ascribed 
to which are " such a parcel of devilries as it is best not 
to tell." Columbus burned to convert them to Christ, 
and he took with him a letter as ambassador from Spain 



44 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

to the Grand Khan of Cathay with this object. 1 The 
illustrious admiral sailed under the green cross, a banner 
of his own device ; he took possession of new lands with 
"immense thanksgivings to Almighty God," with solemn 
services and an immediate effort to instruct the natives ; 
he carried home to Ferdinand and Isabella nine of the 
native Indians for baptism. 

Christopher Columbus, in truth, was the first and 
greatest Christian missionary in action, as his contempo- 
rary, Erasmus, was in writing and in translating the New 
Testament. But he was as sternly and narrowly a 
member of the Church of Rome as the missionary bishop 
Las Casas, whose father sailed with him, and who ecclesi- 
astically followed him. By their discoveries through 
Portugal and Spain, Prince Henry and Columbus began 
the counter-reformation which the Society of Jesus was 
soon after chartered by the Pope Paul III. to carry on, 
along with the older monastic orders. For the three 
centuries, from Columbus to Carey, foreign missions were 
identified with the intolerant and sacramentarian form of 
Christianity, if we except the small Moravian society of 
Germany in the later years of that period. According to 
the teaching and practical action of the great discoverers, 
not to be in the Church was to be without the only 
true and saving faith, was to be certain of hell. Even 
Columbus, who was so pious that " for fasting and saying 
all the divine office he might be thought professed in some 
religious order," who wrote Latin prayers, and used as his 
cipher a seven-lettered device based on his name Christopher, 
reported it as the drawback of his distant voyages, that he 
was so far away from the holy sacraments of the Holy 
Church as to be out of salvation if he were to die. " "Weep 
for me, ye that are charitable to me or just," he wrote. 

This ritualistic conviction became the source of, as it 

1 Let due record be given to the name of the monk, Antonio de 
Marchena, who, in the seclusion of La Rabida, first fired Columbus 
with the missionary idea at the time when the Mohammedans and 
the Jews were being expelled from Spain. See the Life of Columbus 
(the best) by Clements Markham, C.B. (1892). 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 45 

was the apology for, every form of intolerance and even 
crime at the hands of otherwise good men. Like Saul, 
the early explorers verily thought they did God service 
when they persecuted the dark races. He who had called 
the first island he discovered San Salvador, and had 
reported that its people "would easily be converted to 
Christianity," became unconsciously, but not the less really, 
the originator of the slave-trade. "To the first island 
that I found I gave the name San Salvador, in remem- 
brance of His High Majesty, who hath marvellously 
brought all these things to pass." Of the natives he 
wrote : "I gave away a thousand good and pretty articles 
which I had brought with me, in order to win their 
affection, and that they might be led to become Christians. 
They believe that all power, and indeed all good things, 
are in heaven ; and they are firmly convinced that I, with 
my vessels and crews, came from heaven." His second 
expedition took out Father Buil and other Benedictines 
to La Navidad, the colony he had founded in Hispaniola 
or Hayti, that they might "bring the dwellers in the 
Indies to a knowledge of the holy Catholic faith lovingly." 
Alas ! he found the colony broken up and its stragglers 
attacked by the Carib " cannibals." He founded another 
in a different part of the island, calling it Isabella, and 
sent home to the sovereigns of Spain a report, dated 
January 1494, of which we have the copy with the 
marginal orders of Ferdinand and Isabella. He declares 
that he has sent home some Indians from the Cannibal 
Islands as slaves to be taught Castillian, and so to become 
interpreters able to carry on the work of conversion. He 
proposes that, "for the advantage of their souls," such 
slaves be sent in payment of the cargoes required for the 
maintenance of the colony. "Los Eeyes" reply that 
both the cannibals and the peaceful Indians of the colony 
should be brought to the holy Catholic faith " there " or on 
the spot, and disapprove of the despatch of slaves. We 
must not judge Columbus entirely by the standard of our 
own day. But that unfortunate despatch of 1494 was, 
historically, the beginning of what, under the colour of 



46 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

missionary motives, has ever since been the greatest crime 
against humanity. Soon Africans took the place of the 
weak Indians. To this day, unhappily, slave -buying 
and slave-owning is one of the missionary methods of the 
Latin Church in Africa, as it used to be in America and in 
the dark ages of Europe. 

On the 20th May 1506, at the age of threescore and 
ten, Columbus entered into rest, after acts of penitence 
and faith, saying, in the Latin of the Vulgate, " Into thy 
hands, Lord, I commend my spirit." From Valladolid, 
and Seville, and from San Domingo, his dust and that of 
his son, Don Diego, were successively conveyed to Cuba, 
where, in the cathedral of the Havana, they were last 
interred in solemn state in the year 1795. The wrongs 
suffered by the great admiral, culminating after his death 
in the giving of the name of a Florentine contractor, 
Vespucci Amerigo, to the New World, may be held to 
atone for the one blot on the purity, the nobility, and the 
everlasting memory of Christopher Columbus. He opened 
the widest of all doors to the gospel of Jesus Christ, so 
that we may well commemorate the great admiral on the 
missionary as on the geographical side of his unique 
achievement. This Italian, having vainly offered himself 
to England as well as Genoa, went forth from Spain to 
discover India by the west, and to Christianise Japan and 
China. By no accident, but in the almost fanatical faith 
which is fed by knowledge, 1 he revealed the New World, 

1 In the remarkable description he gave of himself to Ferdinand 
and Isabella in the year 1501, Columbus wrote : "At a very early age 
I became a sailor, and a sailor I have been ever since. ... I have 
held traffic and converse with the wise and prudent, churchmen and 
laymen, Latins and Greeks, Jews and Moors, and many others of other 
persuasions. I found the Lord to be gracious to my desire, and re- 
ceived from Him the spirit of understanding. . . . During this time 
have I seen, and made it my study to see, all writings, cosmography, 
histories, chronicles, philosophies, and other arts, so that the hand of 
the Lord plainly opened my understanding to see that it was possible 
to sail from hence to the Indies, and set on fire my will for the 
execution thereof." To the last Columbus believed that it was the 
Indies he had found. 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 47 

not only of still Komanist Mexico and South America, 
but of what is now prevailingly Protestant Canada and 
the United States. The event of the 12th October 1492 
meant the birth of the greatest evangelical and evangelising 
people of 1893 and the coming century. 

Luther was a young monk of twenty -three when 
Columbus died. From his awakening, down to the work 
of Carey in Serampore, during three centuries the Keformed 
Churches were asleep as to missions, spending their strength 
in internal dissension. Like the German Lutherans, who 
had created the Unitas Fratrum, he went out of the Church 
to form his missionary organisation. Calmly surveying 
the fruits of the discoveries of Columbus and his successors 
when, as a shoemaker, he sat on his stall and made his map 
of the world and taught the village children, Carey resolved 
to translate the Word of God into the languages of the dark 
races, as John Eliot had begun to do for the Eed Indians, 
whose ancestors Columbus had unwittingly enslaved. Well 
might Wilberforce, in the House of Commons, pronounce 
this a sublime conception. As Columbus had brooded over 
the idea of new lands in the west to be won for the Church 
of his day, and proved the idea a fact, so Carey's heart 
burned within him, even from boyhood, when he read the 
story of Captain Cook's completion of the exploring work 
of Columbus in that Pacific Ocean, where not only Japan 
but a thousand islands were waiting for the good news of 
God. Like the Genoese sailor, the English shoemaker 
organised his expedition for the conversion of India, and 
led it himself all through the years till he saw its early 
fruition. Columbus sought the East Indies and Cathay, 
and he found the West Indies and America that the great 
western people might become in our time one of the true 
evangelisers of India. 1 The Nestorians first, and then the 

1 The latest writer on the discovery of America, in the Quarterly 
Review for July 1893, remarks : " In that astonishing series of events 
which have broken the sword of Islam, subdued Asia under Christian 
influences, and made Europeans the conquering and civilising race 
among men, Columbus has proved himself a mighty leader. Enthu- 
siasm like his works miracles of which science reaps the fruits." 



48 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Latin preaching friars, had failed to commend Christ to 
the Hindu, the; Buddhist, and the Mohammedan of Southern 
Asia. A third attempt was to be made by Portugal 
through the Jesuit order, by Francis Xavier, Aleixo 
Menezes, and Kobert de Nobilibus. 

On the 20th May 1498 Vasco da Gama, having in a 
voyage of eleven months doubled the Cape of Good Hope 
and coasted along East Africa, landed at Calicut. It was 
a momentous event, second only to the action of Columbus 
six years before. The Pope, the worst of the whole line, 
Alexander Borgia, had distributed the undiscovered world 
outside of Christendom between Spain and Portugal by 
his famous Bull, thus asserting the most extensive practical 
missionary policy in all history up to that time. The 
King of Portugal was constituted by the supreme Christian 
authority of his day "Lord of the Navigation, Conquest, 
and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." What 
in two voyages Vasco da Gama began, Albuquerque and 
Almeida, the first viceroy, gradually formed into an 
Eastern empire, which had one justification to set 
against its iniquities. It beat back the pressure of 
Solyman the Magnificent from Constantinople, and of the 
Sultan of Egypt from Alexandria, to keep sealed up the 
trade of India which, for the eighteen hundred years since 
Alexander the Great, had enriched both powers, and 
Venice and Genoa as their partners and middlemen. 
Portugal, all unwittingly, prevented the destruction of 
Christendom by "a colossal military empire on the 
Bosporus commanding the avenues of Asiatic trade," 1 
which might have postponed for centuries alike the 
Reformation of the Church and the spread of the English- 
speaking race propagating the Eeformed faith. Portugal, 
happily, could not keep the trade which it was the first 
to divert to the natural channel of the ocean, because it 
did not prove worthy to be entrusted with the faith, which 
it used for selfish ends and degraded by unspiritual com- 
promises. Absorbed for a time in Spain, its decadence 

1 Sir Alfred Lyall on The Rise of the British Dominion in India. 
London (Murray), 1893. 



THE ROMAN ATTEMPT 49 

went on, step by step, as first the Dutch Kepublic and 
then the England of Queen Elizabeth opened wide the 
doors of the East and the West, which Philip II. vainly 
tried to shut again with an intolerance like that of the 
Turk before him. 

Portugal had planted its trading forts on the shores of 
Western and Southern India for forty years before it 
became a proselytising power. Its first centre, at Calicut, 
was not far to the north of Cochin, in the ancient town of 
which, now known as Cranganor, first the Jews and then 
the Christians, both apostolic and Nestorian, had formed 
settlements. One of the many adventurers who followed 
Da Cama — Pedro Alvares Cabral — having seized the place 
became acquainted with the Syrian Christians. Two 
of them about to visit their Patriarch at Mosul, named 
Matthias and Joseph, were taken by Cabral to Lisbon, 
en route to Persia, and these were the first Christians of 
India seen in Europe. The elder died there, and the 
younger, when at Venice on his further journey, wrote an 
account of his co-religionists and of his travels in a Latin 
work entitled Voyages of Joseph the Indian, 1 and returned to 
India by Lisbon. Though no more a missionary Church 
in the aggressive sense than their fathers, the Malabar 
Christians in the first half of the sixteenth century were a 
prosperous and even powerful community. Eor military 
and political services to the rajas of Cochin they enjoyed 
all the privileges of a protected caste. They even aspired 
to sovereign nationality on their own account at an early 
period, having a tradition that Beliarte was the first of a 
line of Christian kings who governed from Udiampoor, a 
few miles south-east of Ernakolam, the Cochin capital, 
where, alas ! the Portuguese archbishop, Menezes, was to 
destroy their spiritual independence by the decrees of his 
Latin Synod of Diamper in 1599. 

We are thus introduced to the two men, the Spanish 
Francis Xavier and the Portuguese Aleixo de Menezes, 
who, in the sixteenth century, spread in South India Latin 

1 Histoire Du Christianisme des hides. Par M. V. La Croze. A la 
Haye, 1758, 2 vols. 

E 



50 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Christianity in its most debased form, — the Jesuit mis- 
sionary, with a pure zeal which has placed him in the 
Eomish Calendar beside the apostle St. Thomas, and the 
archbishop, with a fanatical intolerance which devised the 
tortures of the Inquisition and ended in the extinction of 
the Eastern empire of his country. 



IY 



[FRANCIS XAVIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS 

THE DUTCH ATTEMPT 

" If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as 
though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, after^ the com- 
mandments and doctrines of men?" — Col. ii. 20, 22. 

Periodically the city of Old Goa is filled by crowds of 
Eoman Catholics, who present the sad spectacle in the 
midst of an idolatrous people of the worship of a mummy. 
A body, said to be that of the good and great Francis 
Xavier, is exhibited in the cathedral to deluded votaries, 
who for days defile before the repulsive object in solemn 
adoration. Pompous ceremonies and gay festivities add 
to the spectacle, and there are not a few who declare that 
the mummy has healed them of their diseases. Could 
Xavier himself address the deluded people, he would 
reprove them as he did those who eulogised him during 
his life. " What ! " he replied to friends who asked him 
if it was true that he had raised a dead child to life, " I 
raise the dead ! Can you really believe such a thing of a 
wretch like me ? " Yet half a century after his death 
a solemn conclave of all the dignitaries of Eomish 
Christendom, presided over by Pope Urban YIIL, cited 
miracles such as this as a ground for canonising one who 
was a saint in a far truer sense than many in the Calendar. 
As time passed on the legends by which his Church 
obscured the real glories of Xavier were disbelieved, but 
even Protestant writers like Sir James Stephen showed, in 



52 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

dealing with his character, a singular carelessness as to 
historic truth. This writer in his Essays in Ecclesiastical 
Biography, which surpass Macaulay's in interest and equal 
them in ability, uses all his eloquence to justify the 
marvellous stories of Xavier's success in converting 
Asiatics, and of the facility with which he acquired in a 
few years languages so difficult and different as those of 
the western and eastern coasts of India, of Malacca, of the 
Spice Islands, of Japan, and of China, so that he was not 
only able to preach in them all, but to hold abstruse 
disquisitions on points of philosophy with the bonzes of 
Japan. It was high time that some writer, who really 
venerated the character of Francis Xavier, and had charity 
enough to remember who it was that reproved His 
disciples for repudiating the acts of those " who followed 
not with them," should apply to the records of the saint's 
life the simplest canons of historical criticism. This was 
done in 1862 by the late Henry Venn, 1 who, chiefly in the 
language of Xavier's own letters, manages to tell us the 
whole truth as it had never been told before, while our 
regard for the saint as a man and a missionary becomes 
at once more intelligent and intense. The Jesuits have 
preserved many of the letters of the greatest ornament 
of their order. In 1795 Father Menchacha carefully 
edited them in chronological order, in a Latin transla- 
tion, and the Bologna edition, containing 146 letters, 
is in all respects the standard. Mr. Venn uses this 

1 The Missionary Life and Labours of Francis Xavier, taken from 
Ms own Correspondence, with a Sketch of the General Results of Roman 
Catholic Missions among the Heathen. By Henry Venn, B.D., 
Prebendary of St. Paul's, Honorary Secretary of the Church Missionary 
Society. London (Longman), 1862. With this work should be 
compared one published in 1872 (Burns and Oates), The Life and 
Letters of St. Francis Xavier. By Henry James Coleridge, of the 
Society of Jesus. 2 vols. 3rd ed., 1876. See also The Life of St. 
Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies and Japan, from the Italian 
of D. Bartoli and J. P. Maffei ; especially the characteristic preface 
by the Very Rev. F. W. Faber of the Oratory, London, 1858. James 
Dryden, the poet's brother, translated the Life of Francis Xavier by 
Pere Bonhours. 



xavier's attempt 53 

and the French translation published at Brussels in 
1838. As these letters were written at different times 
from India, not only to friends such as Loyola and the 
Portuguese authorities at home, but to his brethren in 
India, they show us the whole man in his greatest and 
weakest points, while they describe his work and his aims 
in a manner which throws no little light on the character 
of Soman Catholic missions in the East. 

Xavier narrowly escaped being a Protestant, and 
throughout the whole of his letters a conflict is visible 
between that higher piety which finds its satisfaction only 
in intelligent communion with God, and that which seeks 
it in mere ritualism. Born in 1506, in the kingdom of 
Navarre, his youth was surrounded by Protestant influ- 
ences. The Court of Navarre, over which the sister of 
Francis I. presided, was filled with Seformers from Ger- 
many and Switzerland, who used not the weapons of 
theological lore, but the lighter artillery of satire and song. 
Pope Leo X. had, by the Concordat of 1517, struck a 
temporary blow at the liberties of the Gallican Church ; 
but in the year 1533, so far had a spirit of toleration 
spread that Calvin and Cop, the Sector of the University 
of Paris, were so bold as to proclaim the new doctrines in 
the face of the whole Sorbonne. Xavier as a youth had 
entered into the gay and literary pursuits of the Protestant 
Court of Navarre, and distinguished himself at Paris by 
his ever-ready witticisms and martial spirit. It is singular 
that, at the very time he was expounding Aristotle to the 
students who flocked to his lectures, Calvin was writing 
his Institutes in the same city. Had that stern but 
large-minded man, at that time hardly out of boyhood, 
obtained an influence over young Xavier, early impressions 
might have been deepened, and there would have been 
one saint less in the Somish Calendar though not in the 
Church of Christ. But Ignatius Loyola obtained that 
influence, and in the first letter which has come down to 
us, dated from Paris, 24th March 1535, Xavier, writing to 
his brother in Spain, defends himself and Loyola from 
certain calumnies, and expresses his affectionate gratitude 



54 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

to his friend for assisting him with money when in dis- 
tress, and for having rescued him from the influence of 
Protestant teachers. The expression is remarkable : " The 
benefit Ignatius Loyola has conferred of highest value is 
that of fortifying my youthful imprudence against the 
deplorable dangers arising from my familiarity with men 
breathing out heresy ; such as are many of my contem- 
poraries in Paris in these times, who would insidiously 
undermine' faith and morality beneath the specious mask 
of liberality and superior intelligence." Calvin was not 
the least of these " men breathing out heresy." 

But Loyola had done his work in securing Xavier as a 
coadjutor. A few months before, in 1534, a date to be 
remembered in the history of Eastern missions, he had, 
with six of his friends, including Xavier, formed an asso- 
ciation for converting unbelievers. This was the precursor 
of that notorious Company of Jesus which has been sup- 
pressed and revived, and under the mask of religion has 
done untold injury to the spiritual and civil liberties of 
mankind. The first project of a mission to the Holy 
Land was given up on account of the war there. Xavier, 
as a mendicant friar, was attempting to revive the tone 
of religion at Bologna and other universities, when John 
III. of Portugal summoned him, Loyola, and their friend 
Lefevre, to head a Jesuit mission to the East Indies. The 
scheme did not commend itself to Loyola, who proposed 
to send the two most obscure of his order. But at last 
Xavier was permitted to set out, especially commissioned 
by the King, and accompanying the new Viceroy, to Goa. 
As a Papal nuncio he also bore letters to " David, King 
of Ethiopia," and to all the kings of the East from the 
Cape of Good Hope to the Ganges. He was accompanied 
by another Jesuit Father, Paul Camerte, and by a lay 
assistant, while a college was established at Coimbra for 
the support of two hundred Jesuit associates, who were 
to be trained for India missions. The Franciscans had 
for some time been labouring in the East, but John III. 
was not satisfied with their zeal. 

At the age of thirty-six Xavier landed at Goa, in May 



xavier's attempt 55 

1542, and his labours till his death on a barren island on 
the coast of China were spread over ten years and .a half. 
Goa he found more splendid and hardly more godless than 
Calcutta was last century. Small fleets at sea and small 
bodies of troops on land were engaged in incessant attacks 
on native governments, such as never rose to the dignity 
of political movements like those of the French and Eng- 
lish at a later period. Hindoos were kept there by the 
Portuguese, as Africans are now in Mozambique, as slaves. 
A half-caste race sprang into existence not only from the 
vices of the godless settlers, but as a matter of policy, for 
Albuquerque had seized native women, and forcibly bap- 
tized them, that they might be married to his soldiers. 
In this mixed class the Portuguese sought to recruit their 
army and navy, seeing not that it is only in proportion 
as the conquering race maintains its moral and physical 
supremacy that its power to hold, to rule, and civilise the 
people will remain stable. There was a great work to be 
done in G-oa, but if it had been this Xavier had wanted 
he might as well have remained in Europe. For a time 
he confined himself to the hospitals and asylums, but in a 
few months his career seems to have shaped itself. 

Like the greatest of our Protestant missionaries, he 
resolved to establish in Goa a college for the training 
of native preachers, whom he would leave under the care 
of others, while he himself went forth to evangelise among 
the people. The Viceroy, who had been his fellow-voyager, 
persuaded him to visit a settlement of pearl-fishers near 
the modern Tuticorin. Already some of this poor com- 
munity had professed to be Christians, while the Viceroy 
thought that by baptizing them all he would secure their 
loyalty to Goa, and consequently a monopoly of the lucra- 
tive fishery. Xavier had begun badly, as Commissioner of 
John III., as Papal Nuncio, as the friend and agent of the 
Viceroy, in advancing his political schemes. But, disap- 
proving of missionaries taking part in political movements 
or depending on secular aid, we would not judge Xavier 
harshly. He lived at a time very different from the pre- 
sent, when the spirit of true toleration and the right of 



56 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

private judgment were hardly known even to the Reformers 
who battled so fiercely for the principles of both. Xavier, 
moreover, did little more than Bishop Mackenzie's Zam- 
besi mission in their attacks on slave-hunting tribes long 
after. He held that the missionary is the pioneer of 
civilisation as well as of that Christianity on which it is 
based, and he reproved the godless among his countrymen 
in the East as its greatest obstacles. The following passage 
shows with what a pure spirit he entered on his work, and 
the zeal which burns in these words he showed to the last, 
even when sad experience taught him sometimes to doubt 
if an adult Hindoo could possibly be saved : — 

" The miseries of a long voyage ; the dealing with the sins of other 
people, while you are oppressed by your own ; a permanent abode 
among the heathen, and this in a land which is scorched by the rays 
of the sun, — all these things are indeed trials.. But if they be endured 
for the cause of God, they become great comforts and the sources of 
many heavenly pleasures. I am persuaded that those who truly love 
the cross of Christ esteem a life thus passed in affliction to be a happy 
one, and regard an avoidance of the cross, or an exemption from it, as 
a kind of death. For what death is more bitter than to live without 
Christ, when once we have tasted His preciousness ; or to desert Him, 
that we may follow our own desires ? Believe me, no cross is to be 
compared with this cross. On the other hand, how happy it is to live 
in dying daily, and in mortifying our own will, and in seeking, not 
our own, but the things that are Jesus Christ's ! " 

' ' I trust that, through the merits and prayers of our holy, mother 
the Church, in which is my chief confidence, and through the prayers 
of its living members, to which you belong, our Lord Jesus Christ will 
sow the gospel seed in this heathen land by my instrumentality, though 
a worthless servant. Especially, if He shall be pleased to use such a 
poor creature as I am for so great a work, it may shame the men who 
were born for great achievements ; and it may stir up the courage of 
the timid, when, forsooth, they see me, who am but dust and. ashes, 
and the most abject of men, a visible witness of the great want of 
labourers. I will, indeed, cheerfully devote myself to be the constant 
servant of any who will come over here and devote themselves to work 
in the vineyard of our common Lord. " 

Xavier learned the lesson taught by events since his 
day, that " colonisation is the habitual, perhaps the indis- 



xavier's attempt 57 

pensable, forerunner of the gospel among barbarians or 
half -civilised tribes." Sir James Stephen, who was well 
able from his position and daily duties to judge, years ago 
declared that we shall Christianise India only in propor- 
tion as we Anglicise her. He may be imaginative in 
thinking that if England had been, in Xavier's days, the 
sovereign of the East, that renovating process would even 
now have been complete, for it is only within this century 
that England has become really equal to the trust confided 
to her. Moreover the errors of twice a millennium do not 
die so quickly. But it is to Xavier's credit that he at 
least dimly apprehended this truth in a sense different 
from that of the conquering monarchs of Spain and Portu- 
gal, who would have spread the cross by the swords of 
men far worse in their lives than the idolaters they wanted 
to convert. 

For three years beginning with May 1542, Xavier 
toiled as a missionary in South India. For two and a 
half he was occupied in a visit to the Chinese Archipelago. 
The subsequent four years he spent in superintending the 
Jesuit missions in India, and in a visit to Japan, where he 
resided two years, and then returned to Goa. *The last 
year of his life he devoted to a disastrous attempt to enter 
China as he had done Japan. 

Xavier's whole principles and modes of action as a 
missionary were based on the Eomish and idolatrous 
sacramentarian theory. To put it theologically, he sought 
to secure in his so-called converts not an opus operans, 
a subjective change of nature working out into the life, 
but an opus operatum, an external work which required 
the consent of neither heart nor understanding, but only 
the recitation of a few prayers or the creed, and baptism. 
He never met the natural difficulty which is the stumbling- 
block of every Asiatic — that outward ceremonies cannot 
purge from sin. So far as a vague dread of Christianity 
was a cause of the Mutiny of 1857, the fear was based on 
ignorance of the fact that no loss of caste, no ceremonial 
defilement, no study of a mere book, can make a man a 
Christian. Eoman Catholicism shares this error with all 



58 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

non-Christian religions, and hence, while we allow that its 
converts are better than they were as heathens, we cannot 
expect that, in the future any more than in the past, its 
missions will be successful. Xavier personally was much 
more free from this delusion as to the value of ritualism 
than many of his order and Church. That order had 
taken its rise from the severe spiritual struggles of accom- 
plished men of the world like Xavier and Loyola. Not 
only so, but Xavier was familiar with that doctrine of 
" grace " which the Eeformers preached in Navarre, in 
Paris, in Germany, and in Geneva, in his days. But the 
very difficulties presented by Hinduism and Buddhism to 
a change of heart in their votaries — obliterating the con- 
science as these systems do — led Xavier, in his desire for 
results, to be content with the outward show of belief, with 
baptism, and the unintelligent repetition of words denot- 
ing spiritual ideas far beyond the comprehension of the 
poor fishermen and peasants among whom chiefly he 
laboured. 

Such being his principles, his modes of action corre- 
sponded. He did not make the mistake of his successors, 
in living as a Hindu and lowering the dignity of his soul 
to the degraded level of the idolater like Eobert de Nobili- 
bus and Abbe Dubois. But even when he despairs most 
of success, even when his moral sense and spiritual in- 
stincts are most shocked at the vices of his converts and 
of the unbaptized, he never loses his affection for them. 
Like his Master who wept over the city He had so often 
denounced, Xavier yearned for the people who were as 
sheep without a shepherd, and did not spare himself for 
their sake. But his letters clearly show that he never 
mastered one Oriental language, and that frequently he was 
without an interpreter. In some cases he bought his 
converts with money. Speaking of the villages of pearl- 
fishers at Tuticorin after he had been two years among 
them, he says he visits from village to village : — 

"All being thus surveyed, my labour comes over again in the same 
order. In each village I leave one copy of the Christian Instruction. 
I appoint all to assemble on festival days, and to chant the rudiments 



xavier's attempt 59 

of the Christian faith ; and in each of the villages I appoint a fit 
person to preside. For their wages the Viceroy, at my request, has 
assigned 4000 gold fanams. Multitudes in these parts are only not 
Christians because none are found to make them Christians. Here 
I am, almost alone from the time that Anthony remained sick at 
Manapar, and I find it a most inconvenient position to be in the 
midst of a people of an unknown tongue, without the assistance of an 
interpreter. Roderick, indeed, who is now here, acts as an interpreter 
in the place of Anthony ; but you know well how much they know of 
Portuguese. Conceive, therefore, what kind of life I live in this place, 
what kind of sermons I am able to address to the assemblies, when 
they who should repeat my address to the people do not understand 
me, nor I them. I ought to be an adept in dumb show. Yet I am not 
without work, for I want no interpreter to baptize infants just born, 
or those which their parents bring ; nor to relieve the famished and 
the naked who come in my way. So I devote myself to these two 
kinds of good works, and do not regard my time as lost." 

It is doubtful if the people understood the translations 
of the creed into their own language. After recounting a 
large number of baptisms, Xavier, in one of his letters, says 
they had mistranslated the very first word of the Creed, 
and that, instead of the word " I believe," (credo), they had 
been using the expression, " I will," {void) ! Xavier's 
phrase always is "Feci Christianos." At the same time 
he insisted, by a strict discipline, on at least outward 
conformity to the Decalogue, and when the only Brahman 
whom he had found to exhibit an intelligent and candid 
mind wanted to be secretly baptized, he refused to do 
it. Still the argument Xavier uses most frequently to 
stir up his brethren in Europe to send more mission- 
aries, and to quicken the missionaries already in the field, 
is that they will thus be delivered from the pains of pur- 
gatory. To Mansilla, his colleague on the fishery coast, he 
writes — " God give you patience, which is the first 
requisite in dealing with this nation. Imagine to yourself 
that you are in purgatory, and that you are washing away 
the guilt of your evil deeds. Acknowledge the singular 
mercy of God in granting you the opportunity for expiat- 
ing the sins of your youth while you live and breathe, 
which may now be accomplished by the merits of grace, 



60 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

and at a far less cost of suffering than in the world to 
come." Xavier's wondrous zeal was not incompatible with 
great fickleness as to the object to which it was directed, 
and with great impatience as to results. Hence his inces- 
sant journeys from place to place and country to country. 
Two years were sufficient to convince him that to 
Christianise the poor pearl-divers was hopeless, even with 
the help of "gold fanams," and he resolved to direct his 
attention to the " kings " of India and the East. Hence 
his visit to the Spice Islands, in which he seems to have 
secured the nominal adhesion for a time of only two 
rajas, who expected political benefits from Goa. It is on 
his return to India for fifteen months, to organise all the 
Jesuit missions in the East, that the high elements of his 
nature appear. To this period of his life are due the rapid 
extension of Jesuit missions from the Cape of Good Hope 
to China and Japan, and the proportionate decline of the 
Franciscan and Augustinian missions. What Loyola was 
to the whole Jesuit order, Xavier was to all the Jesuit 
associates in the East. His instructions to these associates, 
his personal intercourse with them, and his directions as to 
their work, reveal in him the intelligent scholar, the zeal- 
ous missionary, the wise ruler, and the courteous gentle- 
man. By this time, disappointed both in poor and rich, he 
comes to the conclusion, which, in the different form of the 
superior importance of Bible schools to spasmodic preaching, 
Protestant missions are arriving at — " Believe me, trust 
my experience, all our ministry to this nation reduces 
itself to two capital points — the baptism of children, and 
their instruction as soon as they are capable of it." His 
remarks as to the treatment of native Christians are 
worthy of study now. He closes them by saying — 

' ' In the presence of a Portuguese, take good care not to reprove or 
condemn the native Christians. On the contrary, defend them, praise 
them, apologise for them on every occasion. Point out to their 
detractors how short a time it is since they embraced the faith ; that 
they are still in infancy ; that if one considers how many helps to a 
Christian life are wanting to them, how many obstacles are opposed to 
their Christian advancement, by the penury of the priests, by the 



ATTEMPT 61 

incursions of the barbarians, by their terror of the Badages — far from 
being surprised at the defects of so rude a nation, one can only wonder 
that they are not worse. " 

How well it would be if all modern preachers kept the 
following in mind : — 

"Men will only listen attentively to that which responds to their 
internal consciousness. Sublime speculations, perplexed questions, 
and scholastic controversies, overshoot the capacity and the interest of 
men who grovel upon the earth : they make a vain sound, and pass 
away without effect. You must show men to themselves, if you wish 
to hold them enchained by your words. But before you can express 
what they feel in the depths of their heart, you must know it ; and 
there is only one way of knowing it — to be much among them, to 
test them, to observe them. Take in hand these living books ; hence 
derive your rules for teaching with effect ; hence obtain your ability 
of dealing with sinners, of bearing with them, and, for the sake of 
saving their souls, of moving and bending their wills in the right 
direction." "There is but one key which will unlock those hearts, 
namely, the presentation to them, as I have said, of their interior con- 
victions skilfully portrayed by a preacher well versed in human 
affairs, and brought home clearly to the apprehension of each in- 
dividual." 

Xavier throughout shows himself to be a man whom 
Protestantism would have made a Luther, or a later age a 
Cromwell. As time passed on and his work became less 
and less hopeful, in the bitterness of his spirit he proposes 
that India should be converted by the power of the secular 
arm. In Japan, where he was most successful, we find him 
writing to Ignatius Loyola, in words which show how little 
ritualism supported himself personally : — 

" I can never describe in writing how much I owe to the Japanese, 
since God through their means penetrated my mind with a clear and 
intimate conviction of my innumerable sins. Hitherto my thoughts 
ever wandered beyond myself : I had not searched into that abyss of 
evil lying deep in my conscience, until, as midst the troubles and 
anguish of Japan, my eyes were a little opened, and the good Lord 
granted me to see clearly, and to have, as it were, a present and tangible 
experience of the necessity of having a friend to keep up an ever- 
attentive and sedulous care over me. Let your holy charity, therefore, 



62 THE CONVERSION OE INDIA 

suggest to you what you may do for me whilst subjecting to my 
government the souls of fathers and brethren of our Society. For, 
through the infinite mercy of God, I have lately discovered that I am 
so ill furnished with the necessary qualities for discharging this 
government, that I ought rather to hope to be myself commended by 
you to the care and supervision of my brethren, than that they should 
be committed to my guidance." 

Xavier's end was like his life. Eager to introduce 
Christianity into China, and knowing that as a missionary 
he could not enter it, he planned an embassy from Goa to 
Peking, of which he was to be the head, but the Governor 
of Malacca arrested it on the way. Still, in a trader 
belonging to his friend, James Pereira, he left the Bay of 
Singapore and reached the island of Sancian, a low sandy 
spot off the coast, near Canton, where the Portuguese ships 
were accustomed to lie at anchor. Here he was stricken 
with fever, but his active spirit never ceased to be busy. 
Recovering after fifteen days, he wrote nine long letters 
regarding his missions, but still could not enter China. 
He succeeded in bribing a Chinese merchant for £300 to 
smuggle him in his junk, but his own interpreter refused 
to run the risk. In his last letter the words occur — " I 
shall not die before God wills my death. Long since, 
indeed, I have desired death, and life has been a weari- 
ness. But let not human curiosity indulge in useless 
disputes about the hour of my decease. It is fixed in the 
eternal decree, and vain thoughts can neither hasten nor 
delay it." In three weeks, on 2nd December 1552, Xavier 
died without friend or helper. In a mere shed on a barren 
island he drew his last breath, and there Portuguese 
merchants found him as he died. The first account we 
have as to the body is in a letter from a Jesuit in Goa, 
written to the Society in Europe just two years after the 
event. The writer's authority is a friend who heard the 
story from sailors. The merchants who were with him 
when he died buried his body in quicklime the sooner to 
consume it, that they might take his bones to India. 
After waiting long enough they found the corpse still 
perfect and were astonished at the miracle. It was taken 



xavier's attempt 63 

in a coffin filled with quicklime to Malacca, and there 
buried with great pomp. A Jesuit brother, sent to 
investigate the circumstances of Xavier's death, found it 
there still perfect, placed it in a new coffin, and kept it in 
his own hermitage, till, about a year after Xavier's death, 
he and another took it to Goa. Dressed in splendid vest- 
ments, with hands crossed and sandals on the feet, it was 
deposited in the Jesuit chapel by a great procession headed 
by the Viceroy. Whether the body now periodically ex- 
hibited as a holy relic at Goa is indeed that of Francis 
Xavier, inquirers will decide according to the greater or 
less amount of their credulity. 

Xavier certainly never underwent such actual dangers 
and hardships as modern missionaries of his own Church 
in China, or men like Henry Martyn, Williams, and 
Livingstone ; but his visit to China shows that his spirit 
and energy were like those of Paul. In zeal approach- 
ing to fanaticism which would have used the sword ; in 
self-denial not far removed from a sublime asceticism ; 
in courage which reproved viceroys, advised kings, and 
faced all obstacles ; in humility, sympathy with his 
brethren, and love for the erring convert like his Master's ; 
in all that wins personal affection and devoted admira- 
tion, Francis Xavier is without a superior in the history 
of missions. If he left no abiding work behind him, 
let us at least be grateful that we have in his letters 
at once beacons to warn us from his mistakes, and the 
picture of a character which has such parallels in the 
history of the Church as the other Francis, of Assisi, and 
Raymund Lull. 

Bishop Cotton, the most tolerant and impartial of all 
the Anglican metropolitans, next to Heber, wrote a 
remarkable letter to Dean Stanley, dated 4th January 1864, 
after a visit to Goa, in which this passage occurs — " The 
third church contains Xavier's tomb, and, therefore, all the 
remaining interest of Goa. The shrine is adorned by 
four fine bas-reliefs in bronze, representing Xavier preach- 
ing, baptizing, persecuted, and dying ; and on the top of 
the shrine, which is very lofty, rests the coffin of solid silver 



64 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

containing his body. Just outside the chapel is a portrait 
of him, said to be perfectly authentic, and representing 
a face of marvellous pathos and devotion. I confess, 
however, that while he deserves the title of Apostle of 
India for his energy, self-sacrifice, and piety, I consider his 
whole method thoroughly wrong, its results in India and 
Ceylon most deplorable, and that the aspect of the native 
Christians at Goa and elsewhere shows that Romanism has 
had a fair trial at the conversion of India, and has entirely 
failed." 

This is the criticism of his missionary work by the 
Abb 6 Dubois, writing after much experience of the de- 
scendants of his nominal converts a century ago — "At 
last Francis Xavier, entirely disheartened by the innumer- 
able obstacles he everywhere met in his apostolic career, 
and by the apparent impossibility of making real converts, 
left the country in disgust." 

Xavier's despair of converting adult Asiatics by sub- 
stituting one ritualistic system for another, drove him, on 
his first departure from India, to ask John III. of Portugal, 
on 10th November 1545, the favour of introducing into 
Goa and his Indian dominions the Holy Office of the 
Inquisition. That accursed institution, which was devised 
at the end of the thirteenth century to extirpate the 
Albigenses, and had been for nearly a century used in 
Spain to burn recusant Jews and Mohammedans by the 
infamous Torquemada and like-minded priests, was thought 
of by Xavier as the only means of exterminating "the 
Jewish wickedness " which he asserted was daily spreading 
in Portuguese India. 

In 1560 the Inquisition was established at Goa, and it 
continued its deeds of darkness down to the visit to Goa 
of Henry Marty n in 1811, when, he tells 1 Lydia Grenfell, 
" the priest in waiting acknowledged that they had some 
prisoners within the walls, and defended the practice of 
imprisoning and chastising offenders on the ground of its 

1 Henry Martyn, Saint and Scholar. London, New York, and 
Chicago, 1892, p. 323. 



xavier's attempt 65 

being conformed to the custom of the Primitive Church." 
Yes ! the history of Christian missions, even of the Church 
in India, is stained by the use of the tortures of the In- 
quisition as a weapon. Under British influence it was 
abolished by the Prince Eegent of Portugal in 1816. 

Though thus intolerant to the venerable Jewish com- 
munities of Western and Southern India, Xavier refers to 
the Nestorian churches which he visited only in indifferent 
terms. His call was not to them, but to the non-Christians. 
Not so the Franciscans, to which order belonged the first 
Bishop of Goa, Don Juan d' Albuquerque, who in 1545 
began those intrigues and persecutions which, followed up 
by the Jesuits, resulted in the despatch, by Philip II. of 
Spain, when he had seized the kingdom of Portugal, of 
Don Aleixo de Menezes as Archbishop of Goa. Twice 
had the Syrian bishop been shipped to Lisbon, and Mar 
Simeon, convicted by' the Inquisition of the Nestorian 
heresy, had been declared no bishop and imprisoned. In 
1595 Menezes sailed with full powers from Pope Clement 
VIII. to destroy the independence of the old and com- 
paratively pure Nestorian Church of India. This Christian 
archbishop's mission was the destruction of Christianity. 
This much may be said for Portugal, that the time when 
alike its Church became accursed and its commerce ruined 
was during "the sixty years' captivity," when from 1580 
to 1640 Spain was its master. 

Antonio de Gouvea's Portuguese history of the Mission 
of Aleixo de Menezes to the Christians of S. Thomas and the 
abridgment of the narrative by our own Geddes and 
Hough, as well as by La Croze 1 in his Histoire du Chris- 
tianisme des Indes, tell a tale of iniquity which we may 
most fairly characterise in the language of the national 
historian, the learned and literary Manuel de Faria e Sousa, 
who, in his Asia Portuguesa, ascribes the ruin of all the 

1 La Croze, who was in charge of the Royal Library at Berlin in 
the first half of the eighteenth century, seems to Lave been the first 
to hazard the guess that the various alphabets of India arose from 
the "Hanscrit" or Sanskrit. The Danish-Halle missionary, Schultze 
was one of his correspondents. 

F 



66 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

persons who went to the Indies to their rapacity and 
wrong-doing : " Whereas God permitted the discovery of 
this country only for the propagation of His name and 
the true worship (but not by such barbarous methods as 
the fore-mentioned, I venture to say), these travellers have 
for the most part pursued the ends of a .sacrilegious 
covetousness, committing many acts of injustice to fill 
their coffers, instead of having any regard to religion." 

The parallel narrative to this we find in a Mohammedan 
description of the coast of Malabar by Zeir-ed-deen 
Mukhdom, 1 translated from the Arabic by Jonathan 
Duncan, who afterwards died Governor of Bombay. The 
work brings down the Portuguese history in Malabar to 
1579-80. Literally translated, the writer says — 

"The Mussulmans sinned so that God turned from them, and did 
therefore command the Europeans of Portugal, who oppressed and 
distressed the Mohammedan community by the commission of un- 
limited enormities. . . . They also endeavoured to make converts to 
their own religion, and enjoined churches of their own faith to be 
consecrated, tempting people for these objects with offers of money ; 
and they dressed out their own women in the finest ornaments and 
apparel in order thereby to deceive and allure the women of the 
believers. They did also put Hajjis and other Mussulmans to a 
variety of cruel deaths . . . and confined the Mohammedans, and 
loaded them with heavy irons, carrying them about for sale, from 
shop to shop, as slaves. . . . They confined them also in dark, 
noisome, and hideous dungeons." 

Such were the impressions produced by the missionary 
work of the Archbishop Menezes, backed by the In- 
quisition, which ended in the private subscription by the 
archdeacon who represented the Syrian Church, of ten 
articles, the meeting of the Synod of Diamper in 1599, 
and the decadence of Portugal for ever in the East on the 
capture of Cochin by the Dutch in 1663. Then the old 
Malabar Christian Church, which had not faith enough to 
produce martyrs, but had bent for the hour to the Hispano- 
Papal storm, rose again from the persecution, weakened 
in spirituality, in numbers, and in prestige, and without 

1 Asiatic Researches, vol. v. London Reprint, 1807. 



THE JESUIT ATTEMPT 67 

their own prelates from Mosul. Indeed, the Nestorian 
Church in India ceased in 1599, and when it recovered 
liberty in 1665 it became, what it has ever since been, 
Jacobite in creed, under Mar Gregory consecrated and sent 
by the Patriarch of Antioch. But, by a historical irony, 
those of the original Church who adhered to the Latin 
rite, have ever since been known as the Old Church or 
Catholics of the Syrian rite, while the really independent 
majority who accepted Mar Gregory and his Jacobite 
creed are the New Church. 

All Francis Xavier's zeal and self-sacrifice, followed up 
by the intolerance of the Inquisition and the secular power 
of Portugal, failed, by his own confession, to found a self- 
propagating Christian Church in India. Condemning his 
at least honest attempts, his successors devised the policy 
which resulted in the greatest scandal of all Romanist 
missions, greater even than the curse of the Inquisition — 
what was known as the Malabar Rites in South India and 
the Chinese Rites in North China. If the corrupt Christian 
system of the Council of Trent had proved too pure, on even 
Xavier's methods, to win over the people of Portuguese 
India and make them better, then perhaps an altogether 
paganised teaching, in which Christianity was disguised as 
a form of Brahmanism in India and of Buddhism in China, 
might delude the natives into accepting the faith. By 
the unconscious or magical sacramentarian influence of 
the Jesuit Brahmans and Bonzes, the natives might become 
Christians in spite of themselves. The policy was one 
of devilish despair, and it ended in rapid defeat. There 
is, unhappily, no doubt as to the facts. They are to be 
found, not in the attacks of Protestant controversialists or 
historians, but in the confessions of the Jesuits themselves, 
in the careful reports of cardinals, and in the judicial 
Bulls of Popes. The three Jesuit Fathers, one of whom 
devised, the second died for, and the third executed the 
scheme, were by birth and culture the noblest of them 
all. These were Robert de Nobilibus, John de Britto, and 
Father Beschi. 

When Madura was still the splendid capital of 



68 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Tirumala and the Nayak kings of South India, Robert 
de Nobilibus, grandnephew of a pope and nephew of 
Cardinal Bellarmine, resolved to win it over to Rome. 
Fifty years after Xavier's death the profession of 
Christianity had not spread beyond the poor fishermen 
(Paravas) around Cape Comorin. The Hindus proper 
hated the Portuguese, or Parangis, because they lived with 
such pariah outcasts, because they ate the flesh of the 
cow, and used intoxicating drinks. But Robert, trans- 
muting the saying of the Apostle who became all things 
to all men that he might win them to Christ, into the 
Jesuit doctrine that the end sanctifies the means, determined 
to appear literally a Hindu that he might save Hindus. 1 
Having obtained the sanction of his own Archbishop 
of Cranganor to the propagation of the living lie that he 
was a Brahman-prince from Rome and a Saniyasi or Hindu 
devotee of the strictest profession, he disappeared one day 
in the Brahman quarter of Madura, where he was waited 
on by Brahman servants alone. In due time the rumour 
spread that a holy ascetic from a distant region was 
hidden in the city, invisible to all because rapt in 
meditation on God. He had mastered the Hindu ritual 
and the Tamil language. Gradually the few who were 
seekers after some new theory, and then the many impelled 
by curiosity, were admitted to his presence, when they beheld 
the new Brahman clad and surrounded like the idol Shiva. 
The imposture was successful for a time. Converts to 
the new order were made with a facility common enough 
in every century under the elastic eclecticism of Brahmanism. 
The great king Tirumala himself favoured the sage so 
much as to cease building temples, with the result that 
the Brahmans awoke to the danger, got rid of their king, 
and began the persecution of 1693. The most famous 
victim of this national reaction was John Hector de Britto, 
a noble of Lisbon, drawn to the missionary's career by the 

1 See the sympathetic and most valuable District Manual, The, 
Madura Country, compiled by J. H. Nelson, M. A., of the Madras Civil 
Service, and late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and published 
by Government, 1868. 



THE JESUIT ATTEMPT 69 

example of Francis Xavier. His letters are left to tell us 
at once of his evil methods and his gentleness under 
suffering. Eetiring to Ceylon from the storm after forty- 
two years spent in deception so gross, that he made oath 
upon a forged scroll 1 before the suspicious Brahmans that 
he had in very truth sprung from the god Brahma, he 
died finally in a mud hut near the church of St. Thomas, 
not far from Madras, attended by four Brahmans. He 
has left several works in the Tamil language, which are 
praised by experts for the purity of their style and idiom, 
especially The Kandam, a diffuse manual of Jesuit theology, 
adapted to the taste of the Hindus. 

After renewed persecution in 1714, the Madura mission 
revived under the last and most scholarly of its Jesuit 
superiors, E. 0. J. Beschi, whose Tamil works, and especially 
his Tembavani poem or the Gospel Mysteries (1726), is con- 
sidered a masterpiece of pure style. After him the Society 
of Jesus was suppressed. The discovery of the lie on which 
the Madura mission rested resulted in the apostasy of 
thousands. Christianity became more than ever discredited 
because its only representatives were the Jesuits of 
Portugal. The pure Churches of the Beformation were 
still asleep, or represented abroad only by the early traders 
of the Dutch and English East India Companies. 

The scandals 2 of the Jesuit rites in India, first practised 
in China by Matteo Ricci, were eagerly reported at Goa 
and then to Rome by the rival Franciscan and Dominican 
missionaries. Even Menezes condemned them. Put 
upon their defence, the Jesuits protested that the rites 

1 The most audacious and skilful of his literary forgeries was the 
Fifth Veda, best known by its French title L'Ezour Vidam. Sent 
from Pondicherry in 1761. it was published in 1778, and so far 
deceived the learned of Europe, that Voltaire cited its mixture of 
theistic Brahmanism and Biblical truth as a proof of the superiority of 
Hinduism to Christianity. 

2 See for the most restrained and judicial account of the Malabar 
and Chinese Jesuit scandals, the elaborate article in the Calcutta 
Review, vol. ii. (1846) by Dr. Duff's colleague, Dr. "W. S. Mackay, a 
most accomplished scholar and saintly Scottish gentleman. 



70 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

were only civil observances, contrary neither to faith nor 
morals, and required for the successful propagation of the 
Church in India. In 1623 Gregory XV. issued, but only 
to the accused privately, a " constitution," allowing certain 
of the objectionable customs on this civil plea, but 
beseeching them to give up every practice that savoured 
of heathenism, and to allow of no caste distinction in 
worship. Till the end of the seventeenth century the 
Jesuits concealed the document and went on as before. 
By 1782 the evil had become again so notorious, that 
Clement XI. sent out the ablest and most honest Italian 
ecclesiastic of his day, Cardinal de Tournon of Savoy, as 
legate a latere to report, and meanwhile to enforce 
obedience. He did his work so thoroughly that the 
Jesuits caused him to perish in a Macao dungeon. This 
decree of 8th July 1704 exposed and rebuked the semi- 
paganism of the Madura and afterwards of the Peking 
missions, but confessed that much had been left still un- 
reformed. It was confirmed in 1706 by the Pope, but 
Brief after Brief was necessary up to 1745, when the Bull 
Omnium Sollicitudinum of Benedict XIV., following one on 
the Chinese rites, ended the iniquity, and the Society of 
Jesus was soon after put down for a time. 

Under Portuguese influence chiefly, travellers like 
Mandelslo and Pietro della Valle, and Romish missionaries 
of the three chief orders, found their way north and east 
to Mysore and Agra, conciliating the native rulers. The 
great Emperor Akbar turned to such for information 
regarding Christianity, partly to please his Christian wife, 
and partly to help him in the elaboration of his new 
religion. Francis Xavier's nephew, Jerome, wrote for 
him the Persian Histories of Christ and of the Apostle 
Peter, which appeared at Leyden, from the Elzevir press, 
with a Latin translation and many warning notes by 
Ludovicus de Dieu. There is a striking passage in the 
Am % Akbari, the greatest of the Mohammedan histories 
of India, which Akbar's minister Abulfazl compiled to 
record the Ain or "mode of governing" followed by the 
mighty Emperor : — 



THE JESUIT ATTEMPT 71 

"Learned monks also came from Europe, who go by 
the name of Padre. 1 They have an infallible head called 
Pdpd. He can change any religious ordinances as he 
may think advisable, and kings have to submit to his 
authorhVy. These monks brought the gospel and 
mentioned to the Emperor their proofs for -the Trinity. 
His Majesty firmly believed in the truth of the Christian 
religion, and wishing to spread the doctrines of Jesus, 
ordered Prince Murad 2 to take a few lessons in Christianity 
by way of auspiciousness, and charged Abulfazl to translate 
the Gospel. Instead of the usu&lBismilla]i-irrahmdii-irrahjm, s 
the following lines were used — 

Ai ndm i tu Jesus o Kiristo 
(0 Thou whose names are Jesus and Christ), 

which means, ' thou whose name is gracious and 
blessed ' ; and Shaikh Faizi added another half in order to 
complete the verse — 

Subhdnaka Id siwdka Yd Iiti 
(We praise Thee, there is no one besides Thee, God !) 

"These accursed monks applied the description of cursed 
Satan and of his qualities to Mohammed, the best of all 
prophets — God's blessings rest on him and his whole 
house ! — a thing which even devils would not do." Again 
Akbar, we are told, in his eclectic worship, while follow- 
ing some Hindu customs to please " the numerous Hindu 
princesses of the hareem," ordered the ringing of bells as 
in use with Christians, and the showing of the figure of 
the cross " and other childish playthings of theirs " daily. 

The Jesuit Fathers went as far as Nepal, which they 
first entered in 1661. The fine library of the Propaganda 
College at Eome contains several translations into Nepali. 

1 Page 182 of the lamented Professor Bloclimann's Translation, vol. 
i., which he did not live to complete (Calcutta, 1873). 

2 Then about eight years of age. 

3 Formula used by every schoolboy before he begins to read from 
his text-book. 



72 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Southern Asia might have received Christianity under 
Akbar, as in the tolerant and inquiring days of Chinghiz 
Khan and his successors Central Asia was open to it, had 
the Christian Church been alive to the duty and privilege. 
But its Romanist like its Nestorian representatives again 
failed. The former did not give the people the Word of 
God in their own language ; they rather travestied its 
doctrines, obscured its teaching, withheld its self-evidencing 
revelation. 

We need not trace the progress of Papal missions in 
India, in detail, to the present time. When at Viza- 
gapatam, in North Madras, in 1869, the writer personalty 
studied the working of the Eoman Catholic mission there 
with the aid of the courteous Belgian bishop. He 
did not guarantee the statistics published in the Madras 
Catholic Directory annually, nor did he say that there was 
any earnest proselytism or pastoral and educational work 
among the natives. The truth is, that the Roman Catholic 
authorities do not collect statistics of the native peoples 
of India professing the Latin rite with the same accuracy 
or in the same detail as we find in the decennial returns 
of the Reformed missionary organisations. But their 
figures in the gross approach so closely to the results of 
the Government census that they may be accepted. In 
British India and its native States in 1891 there were 
1,277,926 of a Roman Catholic population. In Portu- 
guese India the number was 281,248, chiefly in Goa. 
In the little French settlements, principally Pondicheri 
and Karikal, there were 35,727. The total was thus 
1,594,901. Deducting the British soldiers and Eurasians, 
we may say that there are in India one and a quarter 
million of Roman Catholic native Christians, dating 
chiefly from the time of Xavier — though a quarter of a 
million of these are descendants of the forcibly converted 
Nestorians — against three quarters of a million of natives 
belonging to the Reformed Churches. The former do not 
increase, as the latter do, by active proselytism. 

The Papal Church in India is now rent into two divi- 
sions — one administered under the old Portuguese right of 



THE JESUIT ATTEMPT 73 

" padroado," or patronage of all benefices granted by the 
Popes from 1534 to 1606, and the other under the Propa- 
ganda at Rome since 1838, when Gregory XVI. confined the 
Portuguese jurisdiction to Goa and Daman. His successors 
vacillated between the conflicting claims, intensifying 
the schism, till 1886, when the King of Portugal sur- 
rendered his undoubted right over the whole of India for 
a compromise. The matter was the more urgent that 
the Romanist military chaplains w*hom we pay were 
frequently unable to speak a word of English, and even 
yet, though no longer Portuguese, they are too often 
Belgians or French-speaking. Still, the relics of power 
and interference left to the Archbishop of Goa in British 
territory are so annoying to the British Roman Catholics 
there that they are perpetually complaining. The 
Jesuits, once expelled from India, have now large colleges 
in Bombay and Calcutta and elsewhere affiliated to the 
Universities. The most interesting communities are 
those of Agra, Bettia, Gwalior and Sirdhana, which, in 
origin, go back to the tolerant days of Akbar and his 
Christian wife. 1 

1 The latest authoritative figures showing the contributions of the 
whole Church of Rome for missions to non-Christians are those for 
1891, when 6,691,458 francs, or £267,778, was acknowledged, being 
378,354 less than in 1890. The official Illustrated Catholic Missions 
Magazine remarks it as noteworthy that more than four millions of the 
above sum came from France. "Alsace-Lorraine sent 315,000 francs, 
while all united Germany contributed but 6000 more. Algiers and 
Tunis and the French population of Mauritius bring the contributions 
of the Dark Continent to almost five times the amount sent from 
Asia. In other countries there are found surprising variations. 
Thus, while Austro-Hungary gives only 80,000 francs, Holland gives 
nearly 100,000 ; and while Belgium gives 379.000 francs, Spain con- 
tributes less than half that amount. Of the total of 155,380 con- 
tributed by the United Kingdom, the largest sum sent by any diocese 
is that of 24,900 sent by Dublin, the second and third places being 
taken by Westminster with 17,000 and Cashel with 12,000. But far 
the largest diocesan subscription is that of Lyons, which amounts to 
480,000 francs. Italy subscribed 330,000 francs, and North America 
580,000, the larger proportion of which came from Mexico. " Although 



74 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

The whole subject of Eomanist missions in India, their 
principles, methods, and results, was pretty well exhausted 
in two works, by Abbe Dubois and Cardinal Wiseman, which 
appeared in 1823 and 1836, and in the answers to these 
by the Rev. James Hough, whose evidence, also, as given 
before the Committee of the House of Commons on the 
19th July 1832, deserves study. The Abbe Dubois, after 
thirty years' experience in Mysore as a missionary, pub- 
lished his Letters on the State of Christianity in India, in which 
the Conversion of the Hindoos is considered impracticable. He 
declares that "the disappointment and want of success 
of Xavier ought to have been sufficient to damp the most 
fervent zeal of the persons disposed to enter the same 
career " ; that he himself had toiled in vain ; that his 
brethren had met with no better success than himself, and 
that the few Protestant missionaries in India up to that 
time (including Schwartz and Carey, be it remembered,) 
had altogether failed. He accordingly came to what has 
been well called the astounding conclusion, that the time 
of the conversion of India had passed away ; that Chris- 
tianity had done its work in the world; that the six 
hundred millions of souls, as then estimated, in India and 
China, Africa and Oceania, in pagan darkness, were to be 
abandoned to the Almighty's irrevocable decree, which 
doomed them to perdition. Writing of his own experience, 
he admitted, "I have made in all two or three hundred 

Roman Catholic priests receive State grants for their necessary- 
services as chaplains to the Irish troops, it is Africa, not India, which 
has of late called forth the missionary zeal of this Church under men 
with political aims like the late Cardinal Lavigerie, and those who 
were guilty of the Uganda scandal. "During the year 1891, 309 
new missionaries left Europe for the purpose of taking part in the 
evangelisation of heathen countries. Of these no fewer than 147 
were of French nationality, no other country forwarding an equally- 
large contingent. They belonged, moreover, to various religious con- 
gregations, that which supplied the most of them being the recently- 
founded congregation of Don Bosco, which sent 72 missionaries to 
Africa and Patagonia. In the year 1891, 195 nuns of various religious 
congregations likewise left Europe ; while 139 missionaries are reported 
as having died whilst engaged in missionary labour." 



THE JESUIT ATTEMPT 75 

converts of both sexes," but, " I will declare it, with shame 
and confusion, that I do not remember any one who may 
be said to have embraced Christianity from conviction and 
through quite disinterested motives. Among these new 
converts many apostatised." Cardinal Wiseman, though 
quoting the Abbe when it suits his object, adopts the 
opposite opinion, that the whole world is to be converted 
to Christianity, and that the Eomanists alone have been 
generally successful in their efforts, desiring thus to support 
the first of the assaults, which continue to the present time 
with unceasing force, against the Protestantism of Great 
Britain and America. 

Speaking before the House of Commons Committee 
more than sixty years ago, with modesty, with gravity, 
and with charity to all, James Hough uttered this pro- 
phecy, 1 which, as we shall see hereafter, the Holy Spirit 
of God, in whose strength he spake, has largely fulfilled 
and is daily completing : — 

" How could we expect a body of people to place their 
confidence in religious teachers who set out with an 
imposture 1 On the other hand, I would account for the 
success of the Protestant missionaries by reverting to the 
simplicity of the means which they have used . . . pre- 
cisely the means that were employed by the primitive 
teachers of the Christian religion, — I mean, the dis- 
semination of the Word of God, the diligent preaching of 
that Word, and the education of youth." Then follows 
the unconscious prophecy now being realised : " If the 
missionaries persevered in the course which they have hitherto 
taken, nothing, with the Divine blessing on their labours, can 
prevent them from ultimately succeeding in diffusing the Christian 
religion throughout the vast continent of India." 

Persecuting intolerance like that embodied in the In- 
quisition, audacious deceit like that of the Jesuits, were 
not the only antichristian methods by which the Church 
of Rome sought the conversion of India. It was the first 

1 Page 131 in Appendix I. to The Protestant Missions Vindicated 
against the Aspersions of the Rev. N. Wiseman, D.D., involving the 
Protestant Religion, 1837. London. 



76 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

to apply deliberately, on a great scale, the motive of 
worldly interest. Writing in 1546 to the Viceroy of 
Goa, John III. of Portugal laid down this principle : 
"Pagans may be brought over to our religion not only 
by the hopes of salvation, but also by temporal interest 
and preferment." The order accordingly went forth that 
professing converts were to be provided with places in the 
Customs, to be exempted from impressment for the navy, 
and to be maintained by the distribution of rice from the 
public revenue. In peninsular India it was not easy 
to carry this into effect. But in Ceylon the Buddhist 
character, so obsequious to power and indifferent to con- 
science, was at once caught by the material bribes, while 
the Tamil immigrants from the opposite coast and the 
fishermen of the Gulf of Manaar accepted the teaching 
of Xavier, and have ever since clung to it as raising them 
in the social scale. Sir Emerson Tennent is satisfied with 
the evidence that, within a very few years of its occupation 
by the Portuguese in 1548, almost the entire population 
of the Jaffna province of Ceylon, including even the 
Brahmans, had submitted to be baptized. 1 

In 1658 the Dutch ejected the Portuguese from the 
fortress of Jaffna, but developed on a still greater scale 
the policy of securing the nominal profession of Christi- 
anity as the price of office and worldly advantage. There 
is no nobler page in history than that which records the 
heroic and successful struggles of the United Provinces 
against Philip II. of Spain, nor can the services of the 
house of Orange to the spiritual and political liberties of 
Great Britain and Ireland be ever forgotten. It was 
Queen Elizabeth's recognition of the Dutch Eepublic as 
against Spain that led to the founding of the London 
East India Company, and started the commercial and 
political movement which has given us our Indian Empire. 
The first of the Protestant peoples to trade with the East, 
the Dutch, determined that the Presbyterian Church should 
become a missionary propaganda to the races of India. 
For this purpose Hugo Grotius wrote his great work, 
1 Christianity in Ceylon. London (John Murray), 1850. 



THE DUTCH ATTEMPT 77 

Be Veritate Beligionis Christians, which was translated into 
the principal European languages as well as Arabic. 1 Ten 
years before the Propaganda College at Eome was estab- 
lished, or in 1612, Walseus founded in the University of 
Ley den, itself the first fruit of freedom, a college for the 
training of missionaries. In the two centuries from Grotius 
and Walseus to Vanderkemp, the friend of Henry Martyn, 
little Holland sent forth remarkable missionaries. But 
what the treatises of the eighteenth century described as 
"their High Mightinesses the illustrious States -General 
of the Free United Netherlands and mighty Dutch East 
India Company," 2 or their administrators and merchants 
in the Indies, were always more careful as to their com- 
mercial advantages than their spiritual calling. 

The Dutch, as they destroyed the power of Spain and 
Portugal in India, found the spice trade so enormously 
valuable that they sought to monopolise it in the islands 
of the Eastern Archipelago, and so both directly and in- 
directly led the English to confine their principal settle- 
ments to the peninsula of India proper. In Formosa, 
where, till their expulsion by Chinese pirates in 1661, 
their missionaries began a spiritual work ; 3 in Amboyna, 
stained by their massacre of the English ; in Java, Celebes, 
and Sumatra, which was given up to them after Lord 
Minto's expedition and the hopeful administration of Sir 
Stamford Eaffles, the Netherlands East Indian Company 
exploited the populations under the famous culture system 

1 From Lipstadt prison Grotius sent forth his book, in which, he 
writes: "My design was to undertake something which might be 
useful to my countrymen, especially seamen, who in their long 
voyages will everywhere meet either with Pagans, as in China or 
Guinea ; or Mohammedans, as in the Turkish and Persian Empires, 
and in the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco ; and also with Jews, who 
are the professed enemies of Christianity, and are dispersed over the 
greatest part of the world." See Dean Clarke's translation (1805) of 
Le Clerc's edition. 

2 See Aitchison's Collection, vol. v. page 501, for the last treaty 
made with the King of Kandy or Ceylon in 1766. 

8 See Missionary Success in Formosa. London, 1889. 



78 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

denounced by some of the more patriotic Hollanders at 
home. The Netherlands and the Ehenish societies con- 
ducted missions there with varying success since the 
English withdrawal under the treaty of 1824. But it is 
true of South-Eastern as of Western Asia, that Islam has 
spread its baneful half-civilisation because of the failure 
of the Christian Churches. 

In India proper the Dutch settlements were isolated 
and few, on or near the coast at Cochin, 1 Negapatam, 
Palakollu, and Sadras, and at Chinsurah on the Hoogli 
Eiver above Calcutta, where Clive brought their influence 
to an end in 1759. It was to their Governor of Palakollu, 
opposite Ceylon, in 1636, that the King of Kandy sent an 
invitation to help him to expel the Portuguese. In 1642, 
six years after, the Eeformed Church of Holland was 
established as the religion of the new colony. The State, 
and that a foreign power seeking commercial profit through 
a monopoly company, established its own Church, with 
the inevitable results of intolerance rising to persecution, 
especially of its Eoman Catholic predecessor, and a wide- 
spread hypocrisy with an equally extensive apostasy on 
the removal of the State pressure. In the veracious 
pages of Baldaeus, one of the first Dutch missionaries, we 
can trace the wholesale unspiritual process, by which, with 
only two colleagues to help him where there had been 
forty priests, in the northern province of Jaffna, the 
number of native " converts " from Hinduism was re- 
ported as "exceeding 180,000," though the candid 
admission was made that " they still retained many of the 
superstitions of paganism." In the southern provinces the 
Buddhists were told by plakaat, or proclamation, that 
baptism, communion in the State Church, and subscription 
to the Helvetic Confession, were essential preliminaries 
not only to appointment to office, but even to farming land. 

In every village the schoolhouse became the church, 

1 The Land of the Permauls; or, Cochin its Past and its Present, by the 
distinguished naturalist, Francis Day, F.L.S., of the Madras Medical 
Service (Madras, 1863), contains the best account of the Dutch in India 
proper, based on the official records. 



THE DUTCH ATTEMPT 79 

and the schoolmaster the registrar of documents involving 
the rights and succession to property. The number of 
children under instruction and baptized rose to 85,000. 
Nowhere was there any evidence of genuine conversion, 
nor were there missionaries sufficient to give simple 
instruction in Christian truth. In despair some resorted 
to attempts to forcibly suppress Buddhism, and others 
appealed to the Church at home. In 1700 the Classis of 
Amsterdam remonstrated with the Consistory of Colombo, 
reminding it that compulsion can never generate con- 
viction, nor penalties inculcate belief. At a later date 
the Classis declared the converts to be sine Christo Christiani, 
so few were communicants, so many were idolaters. Not 
one had been a Moorman or Mohammedan, all were 
Tamils or Singhalese. When the English conquest of 
the Dutch settlements in India in 1782 was followed in 
1796 by the permanent occupation of Ceylon, the articles 
of capitulation stipulated that "the clergy and other 
ecclesiastical servants shall continue in their functions and 
receive the same pay and emoluments as they had from 
the (Dutch) Company." 

The Dutch Eeformed Church left nearly half a million l 
professing converts in Ceylon, or a fourth of the popula- 
tion at that time, and only fourteen clergy. As soon as 
these Asiatics realised the fact that the British Govern- 
ment, under the benevolent administration of the Hon. 
Mr. North, afterwards Earl of Guilford, disowned intoler- 
ance in religion while enthusiastic as to education, and 
abolished the Dutch penal laws against Eoman Catholics, 
the half -million disappeared. Till 1816 the Article of 
Capitulation was observed so far that the Dutch ministers 
were reinforced by young divines from Edinburgh, while 
episcopal congregations were placed under the see of 
Calcutta, and ultimately under a bishop of their own, now 
no longer a state functionary. In 1806 Claudius Buchanan 
on his visit pronounced the Eeformed Christianity to be 
extinct in Ceylon. Writing in 1850 Sir Emerson Tennent 

1 At the same time the "converts" in Java were reported to be 
100,000. 



80 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

declared that of the many planted by Baldseus and Valen- 
tyn, and even by the great Schwartz during a year's visit, 
not a single congregation existed. 

Portugal, Holland, and France in India, like France in 
America, made the mistake of seeking to extend their 
limits without securing a foothold before taking further 
steps, and so their outlying settlements were cut off and 
they lost India. 

The first attempt of the Reformed Church towards the 
conversion of India was as lamentable a failure as that of 
the preceding Romanists and Nestorians, because it pro- 
ceeded on similarly false and unchristian methods. " Such 
things are not of Christ, nor calculated to advance His 
kingdom," as the Amsterdam Classis sadly bewailed, but 
in vain. Not so are idolatry and caste, the Buddhist 
nihilism, the Mohammedan fanaticism, the Parsee dualism, 
and the Jewish blindness to be overcome, and self- 
propagating Churches and spiritual communities called 
out and built up into Christian nations. Like Francis 
Xavier, Baldaeus and his fellows preached through inter- 
preters. The watchwords of the missionary must be 
these — the vernacular Bible, vernacular preaching, daily 
teaching, the conversion of the individual, that he may in 
turn aggressively propagate the faith which he has received. 
Where these "have been so long and persistently applied 
under the continual sense of the influence and aid of the 
Spirit sent by Christ to enable His disciples to do greater 
works than even those of His public ministry, Christianity 
necessarily triumphs, is consolidated and becomes the life 
of nations and of races all down the centuries, for it is 
the assured hope and stimulus of every true believer. 

So apostolic Christianity swept away the paganism of 
Greece and of Rome. So post-apostolic Christianity won 
over the northern nations. So the teaching of John the 
divine and Paul the apostle of the nations, in particular, 
early seized all the powers of the Scots of Ireland and Iona, 
through them transformed the Saxons and the Germans, 
and sent forth the swarms of the English-speaking peoples 
west and south and east. It was possible for whole tribes 



THE DUTCH ATTEMPT 81 

to follow their chief down into the waters of baptism, for 
they at once joined an organisation which absorbed them 
and their children in a generation. But where, as in the 
far East, in Cathay and India proper, and Farther India, 
heathenism was, and is still apparently, a compact mass 
bound together by caste and ritual, and Islam is a brother- 
hood fanatical in its conceit, nothing short of the trans- 
formation by the Spirit of God of each separate convert 
will suffice for the first story of the living temple which 
is to grow upward and outward from the Rock, till all 
nations flow into it. The same spiritual influence, the 
same sweet persuasion which swept away paganism in 
four centuries will alone, but most certainly, destroy the 
lie of Mohammedanism and the idolatry of the East. 



THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK OF 
PREPARATION 

" The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." — Gal. iii. 24. 

Three hundred years ago, at the close of the sixteenth 
century, the conversion of India seemed more distant 
than in the third, when the post-apostolic missionary 
Pantsenus left his college at Alexandria for the primitive 
Christian settlements in Malabar. At times, in the inter- 
vening centuries, all Asia had been open to the European 
with the divine message intrusted to him for its proclama- 
tion, as inner Asia is not open even now. Yet Buddhism 
on the one side and Mohammedanism on the other had 
proved to be the successful missionary religions from 
Peking to Ceylon, and from Constantinople right across the 
continent to Malaysia. The Greek and the Latin Churches 
had added two small sects to the multitude whom 
Brahmanism tolerated and disarmed, since the elder Aryans 
first crossed the Indus on their southward march. That 
was all. The Reformation of the Latin Church had, 
meanwhile, been doctrinally completed in Europe, and the 
Dutch Protestants had begun their attempt to Christianise 
the natives of the farther East on lines almost as contrary 
to those of Jesus Christ as their predecessors. Each of 
the three organised missions had come short of that which 
went before it. The Nestorian departed from the orthodox 
teaching of Alexandria, and, by adopting a compromise as 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 83 

to the person of Christ, ceased to be aggressive, yet was 
itself always tolerant, and remained true to its Persian 
faith. The Roman began by deceiving and persecuting 
first the Nestorian, then the Mohammedan, and then the 
Hindu, till the Papal supremacy which was thus propa- 
gated led to the disappearance of the political power of 
Portugal in the East almost altogether. The Dutch ex- 
periment, especially in Ceylon, exhausted the evil methods 
of spreading any faith or any truth. So far as the millions 
of Asia were concerned, Christians had discredited the 
name and the claims of Jesus Christ on every man whose 
nature He, in His love and in His pity, had taken to 
redeem him. 

The English were now, in God's providence, led all un- 
consciously to take the first step in the extension of the 
kingdom described by its Founder as " not of this world." 
The Scottish patriots and reformers had taught England 
and the world the true principles of civil and religious 
liberty. 1 Elizabeth, forced into the position of the defender 
of these liberties against the Papal League, had broken 
the power of Spain, and had helped to independence the 
Dutch, a little nation of sailors and traders who speedily 
made their way to the East. Then in 1599 they raised 
the price of pepper against the English from three shillings 
to eight shillings a pound. This was too much for the 
Lord Mayor and merchants of London, who resolved to 
form an association of their own for direct trade with 
India, and induced the Queen to send Sir John Mildenhall 
by Constantinople to the Great Mogul to secure privileges 
for the new company. 2 On the last day of the year 1600, 
in the forty-third year of her reign, Queen Elizabeth 
signed the first charter creating "one Body Corporate 
and Politick, in Deed and in Name, by the name of the 
Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the 
East Indies" and nominating Alderman Thomas Smith as 

1 See Hill Burton's History. 

2 See Sir George Bird wood's Report on Old Records in the India 
Office. 



84 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

first Governor with twenty-four " committees " or directors, 
all to be elected annually thenceforth by the shareholders, 
then a hundred and twenty-five in number, with a capital 
of £70,000. Out of the vindication of spiritual liberty 
by Scots, Hollanders, and English, and because of the 
monopoly price of pepper, there sprang the East India 
Company. So out of the American vindication of liberty 
and the cargo of the Company's tea in Boston harbour 
there leapt into independence the United States. Thus, 
" by a way that they knew not," by a strange irony, were 
the two English-speaking peoples first prepared for the 
conversion of India. 

The England of Elizabeth's day did not think of its 
duty to the peoples of the East any more than the 
Reformed Churches of Europe at that time, although the 
charters granted to the proprietary colonies in America did 
recognise the call to give the gospel to the Indians. The 
new East India Company's charter provided only "that 
they at their own Adventures, Costs, and Charges, as well 
for the Honour of this our Eealm of England as for the 
Increase of our Navigation and Advancement of Trade of 
Merchandise with our said Realms and the Dominions of 
the same, might adventure to set forth one or more 
Voyages .... in the- Countries and Parts of Asia and 
Africa .... to the benefit of our Commonwealth." We 
search the twenty-four printed quarto pages of that first 
charter 1 in vain for any allusion to the natives of these 
regions, among which Africa is specially mentioned, or to 
any other object than commerce. But none the less did 
that document start all who use the speech and read the 
literature of Queen Elizabeth's days on the missionary 
enterprise. The East India Company lasted 257 years, 
during one-half of which it was a trading, and during the 
other half a political and administrative organisation, 
while all through its history, when it departed from the 
principles of toleration, it was hostile to Christian missions 

1 Charters granted to t7ie Hast India Company from 1601, also the 
Treaties and Grants made with and oltained from the Princes and 
Powers in India from the year 1756 to 1772. 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 85 

from a blinded selfishness. Yet it was. used by the 
Sovereign Kuler of the human race to prepare the way 
and open wide the door for the first hopeful and ulti- 
mately assuredly successful attempt, since the apostolic 
Church swept away paganism, to destroy the idolatrous 
and Musalman cults of Asia. 

The greatest legal intellect of this generation, Sir Henry 
Sumner Maine, who has recently passed away, recog- 
nised this when, in December 1857, 1 writing on the ex- 
tinction of the East India Company, then under discussion 
and effected on the 1st November 1858, he exclaimed : 
" That Board of Administrators, which traces its pedigree 
to a company of merchants, just as the most famous and 
durable polity of the Middle Ages was born among the 
traffickers of the Venetian lagunes ! The East India 
Company, it would be impossible to reflect without 
emotion on the extinction of so mighty a name ! That 
wonderful succession of events which has brought the 
youngest civilisation of the world to instruct and correct 
the oldest, which has reunited those wings of the Indo- 
European race which separated in the far infancy of time 
to work out their strangely different missions, which has 
avenged the miscarriage of the Crusades by placing the 
foot of the most fervently believing of Christian nations 
on the neck of the mightiest of Mahometan dynasties, will 
inevitably be read by posterity as the work not of England, 
but of the English East India Company." 

Queen Elizabeth's charter of 1600 was renewed, 
amplified, modified by charters and letters patent by 
James L, Charles I., Cromwell, Charles II. — who sought to 
obliterate all trace of the great Protector's action — William 
III., under whom, in 1709, it became "The United 
Company of Merchants of England trading to the East 
Indies," in return for heavy loans to the State for its 
monopoly, and thereafter by Parliament every twenty 
years till 1853, the last. These charters mark the 
successive victories of free trade and toleration, through 
which Christianity for the first time in the history of 
1 The Saturday Review. 



86 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

India took its place as the one divine religion, and because 
divine, to be commended to every man's conscience by its 
own self- evidencing authority, and sweet persuasiveness 
alone. No sovereignty with physical force, no Church 
with inquisition tortures, no republic with equally 
intolerant enforcement by self-interest, but a company 
royally chartered to bring an empire to the birth, and 
create for the Christian Church, as for all cults, an 
environment of law and order, of peace and liberty, of 
fair play and neutrality, such as even the Roman Empire 
never secured ! The " Pax Britannica " and all that it 
involves for India began with the charter of Queen 
Elizabeth. We may more accurately describe what 
Christian Britain and America have done and are doing 
for the peoples of the East, as the " Pax Evangelica." 

The royal prerogative of granting by charter powers 
and privileges not inconsistent with the law of the land, 
and generally in later times confirmed by Parliament, has 
never been exercised with such beneficent results, not even 
in our own days when British Borneo and British Africa 
have similarly received the protecting and civilising 
influence of the empire. In India three centuries ago the 
chartered company preceded the evangelical missionary, at 
a time when vital, aggressive Christianity was under eclipse, 
and consequently was long in asserting its inherent right 
to go everywhere subject to the powers that be, but in 
defiance of them if their orders conflicted with those of the 
Kingdom that is universal and everlasting. In Africa, in 
the last half of the nineteenth century, the missionary has, 
happily, gone before traders and administrators, taking his 
life in his hand and opening up regions the white man 
never knew, for which the politicians have scrambled. 
This we owe to one man, David Livingstone, and to that 
foresight of his which was misunderstood by his own 
missionary society. It is inevitable that settled govern- 
ment should follow the missionary among barbarian 
peoples as they begin to receive Christianity. The late 
Sir William Mackinnon's British East Africa Company has 
saved Uganda, and given hope to that continent from the 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 87 

Indian Ocean to the Nile. The Niger and South African 
Companies and the Borneo Company are blessings to the 
native peoples under their influence. But none of them, 
even with all the advantages of the present day, approach 
in value and importance the East India Company, of which 
they are in a sense the offspring. 

In the two and a half centuries from the great Queen 
Elizabeth to the greater Queen-Empress "Victoria the 
Chartered Company was a happy device, and was on the 
whole happily worked, to prepare both the varied millions 
of India and their ultimate rulers in the West to come 
face to face with each other at the set time of God's pro- 
vidence. In the Mutiny of 1857, the last remaining 
elements of disorder and crime — in removing which the 
East India Company had spent a period equal to that of 
the Eoman Empire between the fall of Jerusalem and the 
elevation of Constantine, while it consolidated a progress- 
ive empire — burst forth and were swiftly extinguished. 
Sir Alfred Lyall, the latest and the ablest writer on India, 
represents the Chartered Company as invented to suit the 
conditions of existence at the close of the sixteenth century 
in Europe and the East, " for extending commerce, and for 
securing it by territorial appropriations, without directly 
pledging a government to answer for the acts of its sub- 
jects." x John Stuart Mill, the greatest political thinker 
of the last generation, whose father, the historian, drafted 
many of the East India Company's despatches in Leaden- 
hall Street, where Charles Lamb also was a clerk, devotes 
the last chapter of his Representative Government 2 to a dis- 
cussion of the Government of Dependencies by a Free 
State. Even that cultured Eadieal lamented the ex- 
tinction of the East India Company, and the substitution 
for it of uninformed party government in distant London. 
It has been the destiny of the Company, he writes, "to 
suggest the true theory of the government of a semi- 
barbarous dependency by a civilised country, and, after 
having done this, to perish." 

1 See The Rise of the British Dominion in India. London, John 
Murray, 1893. a London, 1861. 



88 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

In its relation to the propagation of Christianity the 
East India Company reflected the opinion and the action 
of England itself. So long as it was a purely trading 
organisation, it was careful to give instructions for the 
moral good of its own officials and was indifferent to that 
of the natives. It was tolerant of, it even helped mission- 
aries like Schwartz and Kiernander up to the time of Clive. 
But as it grew to be a territorial and political power its 
servants practically encouraged the native faiths, and kept 
out Christian missionaries under the rules passed to pro- 
tect the monopoly of trade against interlopers. Schwartz, 
indeed, was honoured, and the Company erected his marble 
tomb in Madras, but at the very same time Carey was 
smuggled into Bengal in a Danish ship, and was suffered to 
remain only as an indigo planter with a license. Up to 
the charter of 1833 passports were necessary for a mis- 
sionary like Alexander Duff. The Company's opposition 
to missions, indeed, became virulent so late as 1807, and 
after the Vellore Mutiny, when some were deported, with 
the providential result that Judson took the gospel to 
Burma, and others to Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago. 
" They that preached the word were scattered abroad." 

Let us look at the process. From the first the Directors 
of the East India Company recognised and enforced their 
duty to their own servants by sending them many good 
counsels and a few chaplains. 1 The commanders of the 
little ships used in the first five voyages to the East, 
measuring from 130 to 600 tons, — men like Lancaster, 
Middleton, and Keeling, who in 1607 carried King James's 
first ambassador, Hawkins, to Jahangir at Agra, — were ex- 
horted "first to depend confidentlie upon Godes providence," 
to see to the due execution of religious worship, setting 
apart " certeine hours and tymes in every day for publique 
prayer and calling on the name of Cod, and to put down 
blasphemy, idle and filthy communications and dice-play- 
ing." When on the defeat of the Portuguese fleet by Cap- 
tain Best, leader of the tenth voyage in 1612, the first 
1 Sir George Birdwood has done service by editing The Register of 
Letters of the Company from 1600 to 1619. (Quaritch) 1893. 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 89 

English factory was founded at Surat, and afterwards at 
Madras, Hoogli, and Calcutta, a chaplain was settled at each. 
The first with whose name we meet was Henry Lord, so 
early as 1616. A good as well as an able man, he was in- 
duced to leave one of the English ships for the Surat 
Factory, where he found another chaplain, named Lescke. 
Lord was the first of all Orientalists in point of time, for 
he carefully studied the literature and mythology of the 
Hindu, Mohammedan, and Parsee communities ; * and Sir 
Thomas Herbert and Bernier acknowledge their indebted- 
ness to him. 

He is described as " preacher to the Honourable Com- 
pany of Merchants " ; and in Kerridge, the governor, 
he found a man of like mind. At the same time one 
Joseph Salbank was sent to Agra as Company's factor 
there. A shrewd and honest but illiterate person, he 
showed himself a true missionary when he wrote home, 
urging the Company to send out " not only solid and suffi- 
cient divines that may be able to encounter with the arch- 
enemies of our religion, but also godly, zealous, and 
devout persons, such as may, by their piety and purity of 
life, give good example to those with whom they live." 
The next vacancy at Surat that occurred was caused by 
the death of the Eev. John Hall, Fellow of Corpus Christi, 
Oxford, and he was succeeded by Mr. Terry, who was 
chaplain of the embassy of Sir Thomas Roe. His narra- 
tive is most honourable to his character. He is the author 
of the too true report, that the natives said of the English, 
whom alone they knew, " Christian religion, devil religion ; 
Christian much drunk ; Christian much do wrong ; much 
beat ; much abuse others." Sir Thomas Roe wrote in the 
same strain, often protesting against the despatch of hope- 
less young men and. the arrival of runaway adventurers 
for whom he had to provide. It is sad to read of a 

1 A Display of Two Foraigne Sects in the East Indies, vizi- the Sect 
of the Banians, the Ancient Natives of India, and the Sect of the Pcrsees, 
the Ancient Inhabitants of Persia, together with the Religion and Manners 
of each Sect, Collected into two Bookes. By Henry Lord. Imprinted at 
London for Francis Constable, 1630. 



90 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Herbert, one of the Earl of Pembroke's and the saintly 
George Herbert's blood, thus shipped out to India. All 
that can be said in apology for the lives of the first English 
traders in the East is, that they were no worse than the 
class to which they belonged at home under the Stewarts. 

When Cromwell guided affairs devout men were no 
longer afraid to show their religion, even in India, and the 
despatches savoured of Puritanism. The letters to the 
Court of Directors at this period always end with some 
such formula as "commending you to God's merciful 
guidance." The report of the death of a factor is followed 
by the words, " God of His mercy so direct our hearts, who 
must follow him, that we may be always ready for the like 
sudden summons." When governors of good family and 
high character were in power, like Oxenden, Aungier, and 
Streynsham Masters, the chaplain was next in precedence 
to members of council, and his pay was in proportion. 
Prayers were offered morning and evening in the factory, 
and thrice on Sunday, when at least one sermon was 
preached. But the practice of the English was still after 
the approved fashion of the Booh of Sports. The sermon 
was followed by shooting and gambling in the suburbs. 
The Dutch were the only foreign power who took care to 
provide wives for their servants. The Portuguese allied 
themselves with the natives, and the result is seen now 
in the degradation of the race. 

Not till 1681 was the first English church begun in 
India. The good Oxenden had raised money, and had 
also appealed to the Directors for a building in which the 
English should worship, and the natives "observe the 
purity and gravity of our devotions." He passed away, 
but his successor Aungier did not let the project drop. 
He looked forward to the time when " the merciful plea- 
sure of God should touch the natives with a sense of the 
eternal welfare of their souls." But Sir John Child is 
said to have made away with the £5000 collected for the 
purpose, and it was not till three-quarters of a century 
later that, in 1718, St. Thomas's Cathedral was erected at 
Bombay. Aungier's friend, Streynsham Masters, however, 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 91 

was promoted to be chief at Madras, and there he built a 
church at his own cost, unconsecrated, and described by a 
visitor in 1703 as a large pile of arched buildings. It is 
to the administration of that good man that we owe such 
orders as these in the Madras Records of 1678, although 
the Second Charles was reigning : " Forasmuch as, by- 
persons of all professions, the name of God ought to be 
hallowed, His service attended upon, and His blessing upon 
men's endeavours sought by daily prayers, as the quality 
therefore of our place and imployment requires, and in 
discharge of our duty both to God and man — First, we 
doe Christianly admonish every one imployed in the 
service of the Honorable English East India Company 
to abandon lying, swearing, curseing, drunkenness, un- 
cleanness, prophanation of the Lord's day, and all other 
sinfull practices, and not to sleep, be drunk, or abusive 
upon or absent from their watch, or from their houses 
or quarters late at night, nor absent from or neglect morning 
and evening Prayers, nor committ any offence to the dis- 
honor of Almighty God, the corruption of good manners, 
or against the peace of the government." Again, this 
entry occurs : " Nine boys that repeated the Catechism 
by heart in the Chapel on the Lord's day, to have 2 rupees 
each for their encouragement, according to the Honorable 
Company's order." 

When the "English Company" was established in 
opposition to the East India Company's monopoly, and 
each appealed against the other to the King and to Parlia- 
ment, the new corporation finally prevailed, and in 1698 
obtained a charter, which applied to both when in 1708 
they united. The document is of great value from its 
provisions for an educational and a missionary as well as 
a religious establishment. A schoolmaster and minister 
were to be maintained in every garrison and superior 
factory, a decent place was to be set aside for divine 
worship, and every ship of 500 tons burden was to carry 
a chaplain. The clergy were to be approved by the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London, and were to 
be treated with respect. All were to learn Portuguese 



92 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

within a year after their arrival, and were to study 
the vernacular language, "the better to enable them to 
instruct the Gentoos, that shall be the servants or slaves 
of the same Company, or of their agents, in the Protestant 
religion." In the first century of the Company's settle- 
ments in India the whole number of chaplains did not 
exceed nineteen — a small number, if we reflect on the 
terrible mortality of European life in the East in these 
early times. On the accession of William the factors in 
Western India had not one chaplain, and begged their 
masters to send them "two good orthodox ministers," 
along with " a little good English beer, as they call stout, 
and a little wine from your honours." 

A few years before the charter of King William, the 
East India Company's agent at the Bengal Factory of 
Hoogli, having quarrelled with the local authorities, moved 
down the river of that name some thirty miles to the 
village of Kalkatta, so called from the adjoining temple 
of the devouring Kali, which is still the most famous 
Hindu shrine in the country. It was on the 20th De- 
cember 1686, and under the last of the great emperors of 
Delhi, Aurangzeb, that the English took possession of the 
spot destined to form a century after the metropolis, not 
merely of British India, but of Southern Asia, with a pre- 
sent population of a million of souls. In due time Fort 
William was built, and named in honour of the king. By 
1710, when there were 1200 English, consisting of the 
troops, the civilians, the sailors, and some private merchants 
residing there, and when in one year 460 burials had been 
registered in the clerk's book of mortality, the residents 
subscribed for the erection of a handsome church. A 
visitor of those days represents the chief persons in the 
Fort as regular in their observance of the public worship 
of God. But the lives led by the majority of the residents 
may be imagined from the orders of the Court of Directors, 
who sent out strict rules for the conduct of their subordi- 
nates, and also directed the use of a form of prayer, be- 
seeching God " that these Indian nations, amongst whom 
we dwell, seeing our sober and righteous conversation, 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 93 

may be induced to have a great esteem for our most holy 
profession of the gospel." 

The new Protestant church did not prosper. The 
cyclone of 1737, accompanied by an earthquake, levelled 
its spire, and the chaplains died so rapidly, that young 
merchants were allowed an addition of £50 a year to their 
salary to read prayers and a sermon every Sunday. Cap- 
tain Alexander Hamilton, who spent the period from 1688 
to 1723 in travelling by sea and land between the Cape 
and Japan, draws this picture of the ecclesiastical affairs 
of the place — "In Calcutta all religions are tolerated but 
the Presbyterians, and they are browbeat. The pagans 
carry their idols in procession through the town. The 
Eoman Catholics have their church to lodge their images 
in, and the Mohammedans are not discountenanced ; but 
there are no polemics except what are between our 
High Churchmen and our Low." In 1756 old Calcutta 
was swept away by Sooraj - ood - Dowlah. St. John's 
Church, to which the governor, the civilians, and the 
troops had walked in procession, was destroyed. Of its 
two chaplains, one, the Eev. Jervis Bellamy, was found 
lying dead among the victims of the Black Hole tragedy, 
hand-in-hand with his son, a young lieutenant. The other, 
the Eev. E. Mapletoft, had escaped down the river, but 
there only to die with many more of malarious fever. 

The next thirty years proved as sad a time for religion 
in Bengal as they were remarkable for the conquests of 
Clive and Warren Hastings. The compensation exacted 
for the loss of the church was applied to the foundation 
of the free school for the illegitimate children of the resi- 
dents. The Protestants, the Portuguese Catholics, and the 
Armenians worshipped all that time in thatched chapels. 
There were chaplains, but few cared to attend the services. 
The population, of whom some 2000 were Europeans, 
grew to half a million, for whose instruction nothing was 
done. Even our own soldiers were neglected, for it hap- 
pened more than once that profane commanding officers 
refused to allow a sermon to be preached to them. Ten- 
nan t, a military chaplain, wrote : "It must happen that 



94 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

many persons have left England at an early age, and 
resided in India for twenty or thirty years, without once 
having heard divine service till their return." Even later 
than this, Dr. Claudius Buchanan was not allowed to 
preach, save in his own house, during the three years that 
he was chaplain to the troops at Barrackpore, within twelve 
miles of Calcutta. But few were like Claudius Buchanan. 

Lord Teignmouth, when Governor- General, reported to 
the Court of Directors thus in 1795: — "Our clergy in 
Bengal, with some exceptions, are not respectable charac- 
ters. Their situation is arduous, considering the general 
relaxation of morals from which a black coat is no security." 
The truth is, the chaplains had been as badly paid as the 
rest of the Company's servants, so that they were driven 
to private trade, and even gambling, to live. Gradually 
their salary had been raised from £50 to £230 a year. 
and in 1764 an addition of £120 was made because of the 
great increase of expenses in Calcutta. They had shares 
in Clive's monopolies of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, which 
enabled some of them to retire with fortunes rising to 
£50,000. An undoubtedly able and evangelical minister, 
the Rev. John Owen, who was a friend of Cecil, came 
home with £25,000 after ten years' service. And if such 
were the ministers and the laity in and around the capital, 
where the Governor- General himself, Warren Hastings, 
and his malicious colleague, Sir Philip Francis, lived openly 
in adultery, what shall we say then of the lives of officers, 
civil and military, in the far-out stations ? Many had 
zananas, where, as one described it, they allowed their 
numerous black wives to run about picking up a little rice, 
while they pleased them by worshipping their favourite 
idol. 

All this time and up to the close of the eighteenth 
century, when Wellesley became Governor -General, the 
East India Company had been laying the foundations of 
an empire amid the chaotic ruins of Aurangzeb's. It was 
no blind chance that led its administrators in India, from 
the time when Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay stood forth 
as the independent centres of a power that enlisted its own 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 95 

sepoys and white soldiers, that collected revenue from 
land and customs, and coined money in its own name. 
Clive and Warren Hastings, at least, were deliberate con- 
querors, and by no means stumbled into empire. From 
Mohammedan intolerance, from Maratha savagery, and 
from French Catholicism of the type that had failed in 
Portugal's hands, and has failed elsewhere up to our own 
day as in Algeria, Central Africa, and Anam, they saved 
the peoples of India. It was not for such men to do more ; 
and they did that with a pure patriotism and a stern 
courage which place them higher in the history of the 
evolution of Christian empire than any of those who 
attacked them — than any contemporary statesmen up to 
George Washington. He indeed did a similar, and in one 
sense a parallel work in the West under very different 
conditions, both as to the white and the dark races, and 
his personal character made him nobler than they. 

Meanwhile, as the outward fabric of imperial order and 
law was being painfully founded and slowly built up by 
the Company's servants all through the eighteenth century, 
the good seed of the kingdom of Christ, free from tares, 
and destined to grow into the great harvest of the con- 
version of India, was silently sown under Danish protection 
from Tranquebar on the Madras coast, and afterwards 
from Serampore in the Gangetic valley. On 9th July 
1706, after the territory had been in the possession of the 
Danish East India Company for eighty-five years, the 
Pietists Ziegenbalg and Pliitschau landed in India. They 
at first found the Danish officials as hostile to evangelical 
religion as the British and the Lutherans continued to be. 
On " Lord's day, October 13th, 1799," Marshman and Ward, 
soon after joined by William Carey, landed at Danish Seram- 
pore. All through that century " the coast mission," as it 
was called, in South India had made Christ known in His 
fulness alike by the Tamil Bible, the Christian school, 
incessant preaching in the towns and villages, and public 
services amid English, French, and native wars, till the 
name of Schwartz the missionary, who died in 1798, 
was the most honoured in the East. Ward, editor and 



96 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

printer, when Carey took up the mantle of Schwartz, 
declared God's revelation of Jesus Christ, printed, preached 
and taught, so as to work a supernatural change in the 
faith and life of each honest receiver under the influence 
of the Spirit of God, to be the only effectual means of the 
conversion of India. " With a Bible and a press," were his 
first words, "posterity will see that a missionary will not 
labour in vain even in India." Hannah Marshman for the 
first time began to make the revelation known to its 
women. There remained to be supplied only the other 
missionary method, that of healing, to realise amid the 
dumb millions of the peoples of India the fulness of the 
love and the purity of the teaching and the example of the 
Son of Man. 

Twice in the East India Company's history had the skil- 
ful services of its surgeons, Boughton and Hamilton, to the 
Mohammedan emperors or their families, secured additions 
to the British territory and influence. Now there appeared 
the first medical missionary. We read in the Indian 
Gazette of 1st November 1783, an advertisement for a 
Christian. The advertiser was John Thomas, surgeon on 
board of the "Earl of Oxford" East Indian, who after- 
wards induced Carey to accompany him to Bengal, and 
died at Serampore. Good John Newton saw that adver- 
tisement in England, and accepted it as a proof that there 
were religious stirrings in the country. There were two 
answers, one from the chaplain of the day, the Eev. W. 
Johnson, who soon after left India with £35,000. He 
had so preached that Thomas said, " the sermon as well as 
the text was ' The Unknown God,' " and did not reply to 
him. The second response advised the opening of a 
subscription for a translation of the New Testament into 
Persian and the vernacular. There were, however, at 
least three godly men among the officials of that day, 
Charles Grant, George Udny, who succeeded him as Com- 
pany's agent at Malda where he gave Carey an asylum, 
and William Chambers, Master in Chancery in the Supreme 
Court, who used to call the English Calcutta and the 
Dutch Batavia, Sodom and Gomorrah. 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 97 

Charles Grant was born in 1746, and went out to 
Bengal, first as a merchant, and then as a civil servant. 
When living in Calcutta as we have already described it, 
and about thirty years of age, he says, " I was brought 
under deep concern about the state of my soul. There 
was no person then living there from whom I could obtain 
any information as to the way of a sinner's salvation." 
He went to Kiernander, a missionary whom Clive had 
invited from Cuddalor to Calcutta. "I found him lying 
on a couch. My anxious inquiries as to what I should do 
to be saved appeared to embarrass and confuse him exceed- 
ingly ; and when I left him, the perspiration was running 
from his face in consequence, as it appeared to me, of his 
mental distress. He could not answer my questions, but 
he gave me some good instructive books." Grant had 
suffered domestic affliction, being one of the few civilians 
who had brought out with him his wife, her mother, and 
sister. Mr. William Chambers, who had been influenced 
by the great Schwartz, married the sister, and a Mr. 
O'Beck, a pupil of Schwartz, became Mr. Grant's steward. 
Not only Mr. Udny's mother, but the mother of Sir 
Robert and William Chambers, joined them in India at 
this time. A Christian society was thus formed, and 
Christian family life was thus exhibited, probably for the 
first time in India, with the happiest results. The Seram- 
pore missionaries found a home and congenial spirits ready 
for them. The Rev. David Brown too, of Magdalen Col- 
lege, Cambridge, was sent out to superintend the Military 
Orphan Society's Schools, and he became an evangelical 
chaplain. Even before Thomas had laid hold of Carey, 
Mr. Grant had projected a mission of gospel ministers 
from England to India, and Brown had named eight 
students at home as fit persons. Before the immortal 
three of Serampore had landed in the country, Mr. 
Chambers, being officially Persian interpreter, had begun 
a translation of the Scriptures. Mr. Grant was himself 
to support two of the eight missionaries on £240 a-year 
each, with books and teachers besides. Simeon of Cam- 
bridge was formally asked to become their agent, and it 

H 



98 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

seemed as if the Church of England would be the first to 
do its duty. The application bore good fruit, though at 
a later time, in the birth of the Church Missionary Society 
and the arrival of such chaplains as Martyn and Corrie. 
Meanwhile Carey was on his way to Danish protection 
at Serampore, where the two sets of ardent evangelical 
men met often in after days for prayer and loving confer- 
ence, now in the deserted pagoda which still bears Martyn's 
name, and now in Brown's cool retreat of Aldeen, between 
that and the Serampore mission-house. 

While thus working through Simeon at home, Charles 
Grant, now a member of his Council, approached Lord 
Cornwallis on the subject. That Governor-General had 
introduced into English society a reign of apparent morality 
at least. Would he support a mission to the natives ? 
All that could be got from him was the assurance that he 
would not oppose it. He had no belief in the conversion 
of the people of India, they were too bad for that ! But 
his neutrality, which in some of his successors, down even 
to Lord Canning's days after the Mutiny, became cold and 
occasionally active opposition, encouraged Grant to send 
for the two missionaries whom he was ready to support. 
They were to study the languages and literature of 
the natives for three years at Benares, "after which 
they may begin their glorious work of giving light to the 
heathens with every probability of success." Significant 
words, well applied in Carey's case at Serampore, and in 
Duffs in another direction at Calcutta, and afterwards 
carried out at Benares itself by the Church missionaries, 
in a college endowed by Jeynarain, a Hindu who died 
almost a Christian. Grant soon after went home to one 
of the " Chairs " of the East India Company's Directors, 
and in due time became chairman. There, and in the 
House of Commons, where he long represented the county 
of Inverness, he did more for the Christianising of India 
than any other man of his day. In India he saw Carey 
begin his work, in England he became not the least of 
the cultured "Clapham Sect," whose good deeds find a 
biographer in Sir James Stephen, No man ever wielded 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY^ WORK 99 

such influence, or used it for higher ends, alike by his 
despatches from Leadenhall Street, his private correspond- 
ence with successive Governors-General and members of 
Council, his speeches in Parliament, and his action as an 
evangelical leader of the Church of England. 1 His eldest 
son became principal Secretary of State for the Colonial 
Department, and was raised to the peerage as Baron 
Glenelg in 1836. His second son, Sir Eobert, became 
Governor of Bombay, the friend of the Scottish missionary, 
Dr. John Wilson, and left a memory dear to the Church 
for the hymns of his which it sings. 

Greater than all Charles Grant's efforts for the good of 
the people of India, or any other Christian statesman's, 
we reckon his Observations on the State of Society among the 
Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain, addressed in 1797, when 
he was fresh from a thirty years' study of the people, to 
his brother Directors, and on " a subject pressed by repeated 
proposals on your attention, namely, the communication 
of Christianity to the natives of our possessions in the 
East." What he modestly called a tract was kept back 
by his colleagues, till Mr. Dundas laid it before the House 
of Commons during the critical charter discussions of 
1813. There it found men like Wilberforce prepared to 
compel the House to adopt it by the intrinsic fairness of 
its principles, as well as by the eloquence of the orator, 
and so it has become the real charter of liberty and light 
to the East. The otherwise majestic Company that blindly 
resisted its appeals has passed away, the victim of its own 
shortsightedness, while Charles Grant's counsels have pre- 
vailed to build up an empire stronger than that which the 
Mutiny purged of its clay. In this light how significant 
these words of the preface of 1797 : — 

' ' In earlier periods the Company manifested a laudable zeal for 
extending as far as its means then went the knowledge of the gospel 

1 His papers have yet to see the light. The MSS. we have seen are 
rich in their value ; without them the history of India and of missions 
cannot be adequately written. See the fullest account of him published, 
with a portrait, in Good Words for September 1891. 



100 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

to the pagan tribes among whom its factories were placed. It has 
since prospered to become great in a way to which the commercial 
history of the world affords no parallel ; and for this it is indebted to 
the fostering and protecting care of divine Providence. It owes there- 
fore the warmest gratitude for the past, and it equally needs the 
support of the same beneficent Power in time to come, for the ' chances 
and changes ' to which human affairs are always liable, and especially 
the emphatic lessons of vicissitude which the present day has supplied, 
may assure us that neither elevation nor safety can be maintained by 
any of the nations or rulers of the earth, but through Him who governs 
the whole. The duty therefore of the Company, as part of a Christian 
community, its peculiar superadded obligations, its enlarged means, 
and its continual dependence on the divine favour, all call upon it to 
honour God by diffusing the knowledge of that revelation which He 
has vouchsafed to mankind." 

At the time Charles Grant was writing his folio of 116 
pages, the aged Schwartz addressed these words to the 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, as quoted 
on the last page : — 

"lam now at the brink of eternity, but to this moment I declare 
that I do not repent of having spent forty-three years in the service of 
my divine Master. Who knows but God may remove some of the 
great obstacles to the propagation of the gospel ? Should a reforma- 
tion take place amongst the Europeans, it would no doubt be the 
greatest blessing to the country. " 

Mr. Grant treats his great theme in five chapters. The 
first reviews the British territorial administration in the 
East, from Plassey to the Cornwallis reforms in 1786, in 
twenty of the wisest pages ever written by an Indian 
ruler. In this occurs the famous description of the great 
famine of 1769-70. The second describes the state of 
society among the Hindu subjects of Great Britain, 
particularly with respect to morals. The third traces the 
causes which have produced that state. And the fourth, 
most important of all in its far-reaching and beneficial 
consequences, inquires into the measures which might be 
adopted by Great Britain for the improvement of the 
condition of her Asiatic subjects, and answers objections. 
How much is implied and anticipated in the following 
passage, "written chiefly in the year 1792," on the re- 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY S WORK 101 

moval of the ignorance and consequent error of the Hindus 
by the English language ! — 

" It is perfectly in the power of this country, by degrees, to impart 
to the Hindus our language : afterwards through that medium, to 
make them acquainted with our easy literary compositions, upon a 
variety of subjects ; and, let not the idea hastily excite derision, 
progressively with the simple elements of our arts, our philosophy, and 
religion. These acquisitions would silently undermine, and at length 
subvert, the fabric of error; and all the objections that may be 
apprehended against such a change, are, it is confidently believed, 
capable of a solid answer. 

" The first communication, and the instrument of introducing the 
rest, must be the English language ; this is a key which will open to 
them a. world of new ideas, and policy alone might have impelled us, 
long since, to put it into their hands. To introduce the language of 
the conquerors seems to be an obvious mean of assimilating the 
conquered people to them. The Mohammedans, from the beginning 
of their power, employed the Persian language in the affairs of govern- 
ment, and in the public departments. This practice aided them in 
maintaining their superiority, and enabled them, instead of depending 
blindly on native agents, to look into the conduct and details of 
public business, as well as to keep intelligible registers of the income 
and expenditure of the State. Natives readily learnt the language of 
government, finding that it was necessary in every concern of revenue 
and of justice ; they next became teachers of it ; and in all the pro- 
vinces over which the Mogul Empire extended, it is still understood, 
and taught by numbers of Hindus. It would have been our interest 
to have followed their example ; and had we done so on the assumption 
of the Dewannee, 1 or some years afterwards, the English language 
would now have been spoken and studied by multitudes of Hindus 
throughout our provinces. The details of the revenue would, from 
the beginning, have been open to our inspection ; and by facility of 
examination on our part, and difficulty of fabrication on that of the 
natives, manifold impositions of a gross nature, which have been 
practised upon us, would have been precluded. An easy channel of 
communication also would always have been open between the rulers 

1 The revenue and civil administration personally granted to Clive, 
as representative of the East India Company, by the Emperor of Delhi 
on the 12th of August 1765. That "memorable day in the political 
and constitutional history of British India," is described by Marshman, 
at p. 310 of vol. i. of his History of India, which is still the best. 



102 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

and the subjects ; and numberless grievances would have been repre- 
sented, redressed, or prevented, which the ignorance of the former in 
the country languages, and the hindrances experienced by the latter 
in making their approaches, have sometimes suffered to pass with 
impunity, to the encouragement of new abuses. We were long held 
in the dark, both in India and in Europe, by the use of a technical 
revenue language ; and a man of considerable judgment, who was a 
member of the Bengal administration near twenty years since, publicly 
animadverted on the absurdity of our submitting to employ the 
unknown jargon of a conquered people. It is certain that the 
Hindus would easity have conformed to the use of English ; and they 
would still be glad to possess the language of their masters, the 
language which always gives weight and consequence to the natives 
who have any acquaintance with it, and which would enable every 
native to make his own representations directly to the Governor- 
General himself, who, it may be presumed, will not commonly, 
henceforth, be chosen from the line of the Company's servants, and 
therefore may not speak the dialects of the country. Of what import- 
ance it might be to the public interest that a man in that station 
should not be obliged to depend on a medium with which he is 
unacquainted, may readily be conceived. 

"It would be extremely easy for Government to establish, at a 
moderate expense, in various parts of the provinces, places of 
gratuitous instruction in reading and writing English ; multitudes, 
especially of the young, would flock to them ; and the easy books 
used in teaching, might at the same time convey obvious truths on 
different subjects. The teachers should be persons of knowledge, 
morals, and discretion ; and men of this character could impart to 
their pupils much -useful information in discourse ; and to facilitate 
the attainment of that object, they might at first make some use of 
the Bengalese tongue. The Hindus would, in time, become teachers 
of English themselves ; and the employment of our language in 
public business, for which every political reason remains in full 
force, would, in the course of another generation, make it very 
general throughout the country. There is nothing wanting to the 
success of this plan, but the hearty patronage of Government. If 
they wish it to succeed, it can and must succeed. The introduction of 
English in the administration of the revenue, in judicial proceed- 
ings, and in other business of government, wherein Persian is now 
used, and the establishment of free schools for instruction in this 
language, would insure its diffusion over the country, for the reason 
already suggested, that the interest of the natives would induce them 
to acquire it. . . . 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY^ WORK lOo 

"With our language much of our useful literature might, and 
would, in time be communicated. The art of printing would enable 
us to disseminate our writings in a way the Persians never could have 
done, though their compositions had been as numerous as ours. 
Hence the Hindus would see the great use we make of reason on all 
subjects, and in all affairs ; they also would learn to reason, they 
would become acquainted with the history of their own species, the 
past and present state of the world ; their affections would gradually 
become interested by various engaging works, composed to recommend 
virtue and to deter from vice ; the general mass of their opinions 
would be rectified ; and above all, they would see a better system of 
principles and morals. New views of duty as rational creatures would 
open upon them ; and that mental bondage in which they have long 
been holden would gradually dissolve. 

"To this change the true knowledge of nature would contribute ; 
and some of our easy explanations of natural philosophy might 
undoubtedly, by proper means, be made intelligible to them. Except 
a few Brahmans^, who consider the concealment of their learning as 
part of their religion, the people are totally misled as to the system 
and phenomena of nature ; and their errors in this branch of science, 
upon which divers important conclusions rest, may be more easily 
demonstrated to them than the absurdity and falsehood of their 
mythological legends. From the demonstration of the true cause of 
eclipses, the story of Sagoo and Ketoo, the dragons who, when the sun 
and the moon are obscured, are supposed to be assaulting them, — a story 
which has hitherto been an article of religious faith, productive of 
religious services among the Hindus, — would fall to the ground ; the 
removal of one pillar would weaken the fabric of falsehood ; the dis- 
covery of one palpable error would open the mind to farther con- 
viction ; and the progressive discovery of truths, hitherto unknown, 
would dissipate as many superstitious chimeras, the parents of false 
fears and false hopes. Every branch of natural philosophy might in 
time be introduced and diffused among the Hindus. Their under- 
standings would thence be strengthened, as well as their minds 
informed, and error be dispelled in proportion. 

"But perhaps no acquisition in natural philosophy would so 
effectually enlighten the mass of the people as the introduction of the 
principles of mechanics, and their application to agriculture and the 
useful arts. . . . The scope for improvement in this respect is pro- 
digious. What great accessions of wealth would Bengal derive from a 
people intelligent in the principles of agriculture, skilled to make the 
most of soils and seasons, to improve the existing modes of culture, of 
pasturage, of rearing cattle, of defence against excesses of drought 



104 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

and of rain, and thus to meliorate the quality of all the produce of 
the country ! All these arts are still in infancy. The husbandman of 
Bengal just turns up the soil with a diminutive plough, drawn by a 
couple of miserable cattle ; and if drought parches, or the rain inun- 
date the crop, he has no resource ; he thinks he is destined to this 
suffering, and is far more likely to die from want than to relieve 
himself by any new or extraordinary effort. Horticulture is also in 
its first stage : the various fruits and esculent herbs, with which 
Hindustan abounds, are nearly in a state of nature ; though they are 
planted in enclosed gardens, little skill is employed to reclaim them. 
In this respect, likewise, we might communicate information of 
material use to the comfort of life and to the prevention of famine. 
In silk, indigo, sugar, and in many other articles, what vast improve- 
ments might be effected by the introduction of machinery ! The 
skilful application of fire, of water, and of steam, improvements which 
would thus immediately concern the interests of the common people, 
would awaken them from their torpor, and give activity to their 
minds. 

"But undoubtedly the most important communication which the 
Hindus could receive through the medium of our language, would be 
the knowledge of our religion, the principles of which are explained 
in a clear, easy way, in various tracts circulating among us, and 
are completely contained in the inestimable volume of Scripture. 
Thence they would be instructed in the nature and perfections of the 
one true God, and in the real history of man ; his creation, lapsed 
state, and the means of his recovery, on all which points they hold 
false and extravagant opinions ; they would see a pure, complete, and 
perfect system of morals and of duty, enforced by the most awful 
sanctions, and recommended by. the most interesting motives ; they 
would learn the accountableness of man, the final judgment he is to 
undergo, and the eternal state which is to follow. Wherever this 
knowledge should be received, idolatry, with all the rabble of its 
impure deities, its monsters of wood and stone, its false principles 
and corrupt practices, its delusive hopes and vain fears, its ridiculous 
ceremonies and degrading superstitions, its lying legends and fraudu- 
lent impositions, would fall. The reasonable service of the only and 
the infinitely perfect God would be established ; love to Him, peace 
and good- will towards men, would be felt as obligatory principles. 

"It is not asserted that such effects would be immediate or 
universal ; but admitting them to be progressive, and partial only, 
yet how great would the change be, and how happy at length for the 
outward prosperity and internal peace of society among the Hindus ! 
Men would be restored to the use of their reason : all the advantages 



the East India company's work 105 

of happy soil, climate, and situation would be observed and improved ; 
the comforts and conveniences of life would be increased ; the cultiva- 
tion of the mind and rational intercourse valued ; the people would 
rise in the scale of human beings, and as they found their character, 
their state, and their comforts improved, they would prize more 
highly the security and the happiness of a well-ordered society. 
Such a change would correct those sad disorders which have been 
described, and for which no other remedy has been proposed, nor is 
in the nature of things to be found." 

" Prediction " is the word we might apply to such far- 
seeing wisdom and benevolence directed to the twofold 
work of converting India — the creation of a Christian 
Church and of self-governing Christian nations. 

This was written in the prospect of the debates in 
Parliament on a new charter for the East India Company. 
The philanthropists and evangelicals of Clapham were led 
by Grant to work for the Christianisation of India, from 
this time forward, as heartily as for the emancipation of 
the slave. Wilberforce was the moving spirit in Parliament, 
and he gained over to the cause, from the secular point 
of view, his friends Pitt and Dundas. Hannah More, Scott, 
Cecil, and afterwards Charles Simeon, worked, in their 
own way, towards the same end. The boy Macaulay was 
nursed amid conversations and debates on India missions 
and education, which he himself was to bring to a con- 
summation after 1833. Wilberforce carried the first point 
through Parliament in 1793, with results thus described 
in his journal of that year : — 

"May 15th. — East India Resolutions in hand and slave business. 
Lord Carhampton abusing me as a madman. 17th. — Through God's 
help got the East India Resolutions in quietly. Sunday 19th. — Scott 
morning ; Cecil afternoon. Called at Grant's — Miss More there. The 
hand of Providence was never more visible than in this East India 
affair. What cause have I for gratitude, and trust, and humiliation ! " 

The Eesolution, as it finally passed, was to the effect — 

" That it is the peculiar and bounden duty of the British Legisla- 
ture to promote, by all just and prudent means, the interest and 
happiness of the inhabitants of the British dominions in India ; and 



106 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

that for these ends such measures ought to be adopted as may 
gradually tend to their advancement in useful knowledge, and to 
their religious and moral improvement." 

Alas ! the Resolution stood there on the records of the 
House of Commons as a declaration of the national duty, 
but the India House raised such an alarm at the prospect 
of the deluge of missionaries and schoolmasters which was 
to sweep away the Company's rule in the East, that even 
Pitt and Dundas had to forgo their pledge to Wilberforce. 
"My clauses thrown out," he writes," Dundas most false and 
double ; but, poor fellow, much to be pitied." India, he 
wrote to a friend, " is left in the undisturbed and peace- 
able possession and committed to the providential pro- 
tection of Brahma." His last appeal has a curious interest 
in the present day. He declared that the rejection of his 
Resolutions would be 

"to declare to the world that we are friends to Christianity, not 
because it is a revelation from Heaven, not even because it is con- 
ducive to the happiness of man, but only because it is the established 
religion of this country. . . . Beware how this opinion goes abroad. 
Think not that the people of this land will long maintain a great 
Church establishment from motives of mere political expediency." 

Spoken a century ago on the floor of the House of 
Commons, are these words another prophecy? By refus- 
ing to insert a clause so vague and moral in the charter of 
1793, the Government and Parliament, at the dictation of 
the East India Company, went back from the far more pro- 
nounced and Christian clause, which makes the charter of 
1698 for ever memorable. 

When 1813, the time for a renewal of the charter, 
came round, Charles Grant had more power, Wilberforce 
more influence, and the country more wisdom. The pro- 
gress was due also to another Scotsman, of whom his 
country has reason to be proud. When Whitefield 
preached at Cumbuslang, one Alexander Buchanan was 
parish schoolmaster there, and he married the daughter of 
Claudius Somers, who was an elder of the kirk. The new 






THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 107 

life which they found in the excitement of the revival 
showed itself in the son, Claudius Buchanan. Tutor at 
Dunstaffnage, and student of Glasgow University, he was 
early destined for the Scottish ministry, but determined 
first to see the world, avowedly like Goldsmith. After 
strange adventures and stranger experience of heart, he 
came under the influence of a man of similar antecedents, 
John Newton, of Olney. Mr. Henry Thornton, first of 
the Clapham men, sent him to Cambridge, where Isaac 
Milner completed Newton's good work. In 1796 Claudius 
Buchanan went out to Calcutta as a chaplain to the 
Honourable Company, for godly directors like Grant 
looked out for evangelical chaplains like Brown and 
Buchanan, Marty n, Corrie, and Thomason. Lord Welles- 
ley, following the good example of his predecessors Lords 
Teignmouth and Cornwallis, encouraged church-going, and 
had made it more attractive by " punkahs " and " tatties," 
the cooling apparatus in the hot season. His Excellency 
had also added a chapel to that famous college of Fort- 
William which he created for the civilian students. So 
many as fifty octavo Bibles were sold in three months in 
Calcutta, wrote Buchanan in 1805. All Christian sects 
of east and west were represented at the services ; but 
he says, "a name or sect is never mentioned from the 
pulpit, and thus the word preached becomes profitable 
to all." 

The time had come, he thought, for a regular episcopal 
establishment of the Church in India, and in that year he 
published his Memorial on the subject. The persistent 
representations of good men of all sects on behalf of what 
had been called the "pious clauses," rejected from the 
charter of 1793, led to inquiry by a parliamentary com- 
mittee. Very valuable, for historical and biographical 
reasons, is the evidence given before that committee. 
When Warren Hastings, in his eightieth year, entered the 
House, the body which had once impeached him rose and 
uncovered as before majesty. The old man represented, 
but in a vastly modified form, the conservative fears of 
the Company of his early days. His successor twice 



108 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

removed, Lord Teignmouth, with more force spoke the 
opinions of a wiser and later time. Great military states- 
men, like Sir Thomas Munro and Sir John Malcolm, found 
their political expediency confronted by the bolder prin- 
ciples of the retired Lord Wellesley, fortunately Wilber- 
force's friend, as he had been Carey's. It fell to Lord 
Castlereagh, of all men, to apologise for making the " pious 
clauses " law. On the ground, " that while British subjects 
in India were governed by British laws, they should be per- 
mitted to exercise their national religion," he said the 
ecclesiastical establishment would "only amount to one 
bishop and three archdeacons to superintend the chaplains 
of the different settlements." The bishop and three arch- 
deacons passed after a long conversation, and without a 
division, but not so the missionary clause. On the 22nd 
June, Wilberforce's most elaborate address carried it by a 
majority of 53 in a House of 125. On the 1st July, a 
Madras barrister of scoffing ability, Mr. Charles Marsh, 
reduced the majority to 22 in a House of 86. At last, 
however, the good cause triumphed on the 1st July, when, 
in a House of only 72, a majority of 24 carried that which 
twenty years before, Parliament had allowed the East India 
Company to neutralise when Wilberforce brought it for- 
ward. Even his renewed Kesolution would probably have 
proved a dead letter for many a year, had not provision 
been made in the charter to compel the Company to grant 
the funds wherewith to carry out the educational portion 
of it. The retired Advocate -General of Calcutta, Mr. 
Robert Percy Smith, who was almost as witty as his better- 
known brother Sydney, procured the insertion of this 
addition, that it shall be lawful for the Governor-General 
in Council to direct that "A sum of not less than one 
lakh of rupees (then above £10,000) in each year shall be 
set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of 
literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of 
India, and for the introduction and promotion of a know- 
ledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British 
territories of India." 

The charter of 1813 was thus the foundation, not only 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 109 

of the ecclesiastical establishment, 1 but, what is of far more 
importance for the civilisation and the Christianisation of 
its people, of the educational system of India, and all that 
that system as subsequently developed by Dr. Duff in- 
volves. The two will be seen to work themselves out in 
parallel lines in the Anglicising of native education in 
1835, the Education Despatch of 1854, the University 
Charters of 1857, the despatch on vernacular education 
and school cess for that end in 1859, and the adoption of 
the principle that Western truth may be communicated to 
learned Orientals through their classical languages as in 
the Punjab University. 

As, on the whole, throughout the two and a half 
centuries of its history, it had reflected the public opinion 
and morals of England, the East India Company's adminis- 
tration of India gradually advanced in toleration and a 
just neutrality. In London the Court of Directors was 
checked by the Board of Control and stimulated by 
Parliament. In India the successive Governors-General, 
especially Wellesley, Lord Hastings, Bentinck, and the Mar- 
quis of Dalhousie — last and perhaps greatest of all — were 
influenced by such remarkable men as the missionaries 
Carey and Duff in succession, whose services they utilised 
and whose educational methods they copied for the public 
good. In the subordinate provinces the same liberalising 
process went on. Madras will never forget the influence 
of the Marquis of Tweeddale and the missionary John 
Anderson. Bombay will ever be grateful for statesmen 
and judges like the two Elphin stones, Sir James Mack- 
intosh and Bartle Frere, and for John Wilson and 
his missionary associates. At Agra Thomason and his 
school, notably Sir William Muir, and his brother John, 
the greatest of Christian Sanskritists — par nobile fratrum 
— did a memorable work for the ignorant millions of 
the North -Western Provinces in their land assessment 
and educational measures. In the new province of the 
Punjab, after the first and second Sikh wars, there 
flourished towards the close of the Company's rule the 
1 Act 53 George III. c. 155. 



110 THE CONVERSION OE INDIA 

band of Christian officials who, from Delhi, saved the 
Empire in 1857. John Lawrence, Montgomery, Edwardes, 
Lake, Oust, Inglis, and many more, carried over into the new 
period of the direct rule of the Crown the same everlasting 
principles of truth and justice by which they had welded 
warring Sikhs and Mohammedans into a peaceful and 
prosperous people, while Christianity had from the first 
been allowed the same fair field. 

At no period in the history of the Christian Church, 
not even in the brilliant century of legislation from Con- 
stantine's edict of toleration to the Theodosian code, has 
Christianity been the means of abolishing so many inhuman 
customs and crimes as were suppressed in India by the Com- 
pany's Eegulations and Acts in the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. The Christlike work kept rapid step with 
the progress of Christian opinion and beneficent reforms in 
Great Britain, but it was due in the first instance to the 
missionaries in India. In the teeth of the supporters of 
Hinduism, European as well as Brahmanical, and contrary 
to the custom of centuries, it ceased to be lawful, it 
became penal, even in the name of religion (1) to murder 
parents by suttee, by exposure on the banks of rivers, 
or by burial alive ; (2) to murder children by dedication 
to the Ganges, to be devoured by crocodiles, or daughters 
by the Bajpoot modes of infanticide; (3) to offer up 
human sacrifices in a temple or to propitiate the earth- 
goddess ; (4) to encourage suicide under the wheels of 
idol cars, or wells, or otherwise ; (5) to promote voluntary 
torment by hook-swinging, thigh-piercing, tongue-extrac- 
tion, etc., or (6) involuntary torment by mutilation, 
trampling to death, ordeals and barbarous executions. 
Slavery and the slave-trade were made illegal. Caste was 
no longer supported by law, nor recognised in appoint- 
ments to office. The long compromise with idolatry 
during the previous two centuries ceased, so that the 
Government no more called its Christian soldiers to salute 
idols, or its civil officers to recognise gods in official 
documents, or manage the affairs of idol temples and 
extort a revenue from idol pilgrimages. A long step 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S WORK 111 

was taken by legislative Acts to protect the civil rights of 
converts to Christianity as to any other religion, and to 
leave Hindu widows free to marry. 

Eeligious intolerance ceased, almost for the first time 
in the history of Christianity, with the one temporary 
exception, that Christian officials of the ruling class were 
not, in their private character, allowed the same liberty 
to do their conscientious duty to Christ which Moham- 
medans enjoyed and used in commending their prophet. 
But that too was soon conceded in the spirit of the royal 
proclamation which extinguished the Court of Directors. 
The last fifty years of the almost imperial sway of the 
East India Company, in trust for the British people, mark 
a greater advance towards the conversion of India than we 
are yet able impartially to estimate. When Claudius 
Buchanan invited the youth of the universities, at the 
beginning of the century, to study the conversion of Asia, 
and was the means of calling Adoniram Judson to the 
work, the young Charles Grant of Magdalen College, and 
Francis Wrangham, F.R.S., of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
published prize poems on the subject. The vision in- 
dulged by the latter even the East India Company saw 
partially realised, before it ceased to exercise its high 
trust : — 

"... Even now I see them move, 

The mild evangelists of peace and love. 

Unstained with Afric's blood, they bend their prowa 

Where in his fiery belt Dahomey glows ; 

Hoist round the stormy Cape, then straining sail 

From Yemen's mountains woo the fragrant gale, 

And bear, strange merchandise, to Asia's shore 

The gospel's bright imperishable ore. 

Unsold to deal its unbought wealth, 1 their plan ; 

Their traffic to redeem the soul of man. 

To check their eager march Tibetan snows 

And Caggar's sands their trackless wilds oppose : 

Onward they press at duty's sacred call, 

O'er Deccan's ghauts and China's northern wall ; 

1 St. Matt. x. 8, "Freely ye have received, freely give." 



112 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Stretch uncontrolled their Saviour's gentle reign, 

And art and nature bar their way in vain, 

On mosques where late the lurid crescent shone 

On pagods reared to shrine an idol-stone — 

Seringham's walls, spread many an acre o'er, 

And the proud domes of gorgeous Ghazipore — 

Her bannered cross victorious Albion waves 

Beneath that symbol strikes, beneath that symbol saves. 

haste your tardy coming, days of gold 
Long by prophetic minstrelsy foretold ! 
Where yon bright purple streaks the Orient skies. 
Rise Science, Freedom, Peace, Religion, rise ! 
Till from Tanjor to farthest Samarkand 
In one wide lustre bask the glowing land, 
And, Brahma from his guilty greatness hurled 
With Mecca's lord, Messiah rule the world." 



great Britain's attempt 

" Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow -citizens 
with the saints, and of the household of God." — Eph. ii. 18, 19. 

On Monday, the 1st day of November 1858, as the 
tropical sun neared its setting, from the steps of Govern- 
ment House, Calcutta, there was read to the fifth of the 
human race, who from that hour formed her direct subjects, 
the Proclamation of " Victoria, by the grace of God, of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the 
Colonies and Dependencies thereof in Europe, Asia, Africa, 
America, and Australasia, Queen, Defender of the Faith." 
The Act of Parliament had become law on the 2nd day 
of August, the fourteenth Earl of Derby being Prime 
Minister. His son Lord Stanley, who had been President 
of the Board of Control, and from that date became the 
first Secretary of State for India, had at once drafted a 
proclamation setting forth the principles on which the 
peoples of India were thenceforth to be governed. But 
when the document reached the Queen, then with the 
Prince Consort and their eldest daughter, the Princess of 
Prussia, at Potsdam, Her Majesty returned it, desiring 1 
the Premier to rewrite it, "bearing in mind that it is a 
female sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred 

1 The Life of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, by Theodore 
Martin, vol. iv. pp. 284 and 335 (1879). 

I 



114 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

millions of Eastern peoples on assuming the direct govern- 
ment over them, and after a bloody civil war, giving them 
pledges which her future reign is to redeem, and explaining 
the principles of her government. Such a document should 
breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence, and religious 
toleration, and point out the privileges which the Indians 
will receive on being placed on an equality with the 
subjects of the British Crown, and the prosperity following 
in the train of civilisation." 

To the new draft the Queen added, with her own hand, 
on the suggestion of the Prince Consort, the words which 
we print in italics, in the central paragraphs and the closing 
prayer of the Proclamation : — 

" We hold Ourselves bound to the natives of Our Indian Territories 
by the same obligations of duty which bind Us to all Our other 
subjects, and those obligations, by the Blessing of Almighty God, 
We shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil 

' ' 'Firmly relying Ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknow- 
ledging with gratitude the solace of religion, We disclaim alike the 
Right and the Desire to impose Our convictions on any of Our sub- 
jects. We declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure that none be in 
any wise favoured, none molested or disquieted, by reason of their 
religious faith or observances ; but that all shall alike enjoy the 
equal and impartial protection of the law : and We do strictly 
charge and enjoin all those who may be in authority under Us, that 
they abstain from all interference with the religious belief or worship 
of any of Our subjects, on pain of Our highest displeasure 

"When, by the Blessing of Providence, internal tranquillity shall 
be restored, it is Our earnest desire to stimulate the peaceful industry 
of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and 
to administer its government for the benefit of all Our subjects resident 
therein. In their prosperity will be Our strength ; in their content- 
ment Our security ; and in their gratitude Our best reward. And 
may the God of all Power grant to Us and to those in authority under 
Us, strength to carry out these Our ivishesfor the good of Our people." 

Lord Canning, the Governor - General, who now be- 
came the first Viceroy of India, having reported that the 
Proclamation had been received throughout India with 
cordial and unqualified approval, her Majesty replied, 
"The Queen rejoices to hear that the Viceroy approves 



great Britain's attempt 115 

the passage about religion. She strongly insisted on it." 
To Lord Stanley, on the same day that he addressed the 
Queen, Lord Canning had written, "I cannot tell you 
with what pleasure I have read the passages relating to 
religion. They are in every way admirable, and I almost 
envy you being persecuted for them, as you infallibly will 
be." It was not so. The comment of the Friend of India 1 
on the Proclamation was more just : " The official recog- 
nition of Christianity as the religion of the ruler will ter- 
minate many discussions, while the act of mercy is a 
graceful commencement of a new regime. . . . The 
revolution is one the vastness of which only the next 
generation will appreciate. It is the principle of our 
Government, not its external form, which has been 
changed, and to the mass of men a new principle is as 
imperceptible as the soul. ... A century hence men will 
date the history of progress from the Proclamation of the 
Queen." 2 

No constitution, not even that of the United States of 
America until its thirteenth amendment in 1865, had 
ever before so completely recognised the principle of 
toleration in matters of faith and worship involving the 
conscience and the right of private judgment, or had so 
generously conceded to multitudinous aliens equality be- 
fore the law and in the administration. At its highest and 
widest the citizenship of Imperial Rome, in which the 
apostle Paul rejoiced, was a small thing compared with 
the gift made to peoples of almost every race, creed, and 
colour, now numbering nearly three hundred millions, 
and that after mutiny and partial rebellion. From the 
hour of that concession the history of the British Empire 
of India really began. From the day which put Christi- 
anity, though the avowed faith of the ruling race, on the 
same equal platform as Hinduism, Parseeism, Buddhism, 
Mohammedanism, Animism, and all other purely human 
modes of propitiating God, as Christ Himself put it before 

1 Then edited by Meredith Townsend, Esq., now of The Spectator. 

2 Under Act of Parliament the Queen was proclaimed Empress of 
India on 1st January 1878. 



116 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

His Eoman judge, the conversion of India to the one true 
and living God became an assured certainty. Not a 
metaphysical distinction as to the incarnation, not a lie or 
a deception backed by the fear of torture and persecution, 
not a theological system or rite attracting by the hope of 
office and the favour of the ruler, but Christ Himself com- 
mending the truth to every man's conscience, His redeeming 
love to every sinner's heart, has since 1858 been the mess- 
age of Christendom in the East. 

One generation has passed since that Proclamation, and 
the new principle has been seen working itself out in the 
two regions of State legislation and administration and of 
evangelical persuasion and absorption. For the first time 
in the long three thousand years' history of the elder 
Aryans in Southern Asia, the revelation of the one and 
universal personal God of love has been made to them ■ 
and the truth that God is in Christ reconciling the world 
unto Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses, has 
been declared to India's conflicting, groping, despairing, 
caste-bound, or indifferent peoples, under conditions of more 
absolute freedom to accept or reject it than exist in 
Christendom itself outside of the United States of 
America. The imperial Sovereign, her Viceroy, and the 
whole ruling class, claim for themselves only what they 
concede to the Hindu and Mohammedan, and every reli- 
gionist. The conversion of India since the middle of the 
nineteenth century proceeds on the principle of Jesus 
Christ in the middle of the first. The constitutional 
position and administrative action of the British Govern- 
ment of India cannot be too carefully studied or too 
strongly insisted on in the history of the religious de- 
velopment of its peoples. 

Heartily accepting the principle of the perfect equality 
of all creeds and religions before the law, the Christian 
power entrusted with the Government of India after so 
historically unique a fashion had two duties : First, the 
State must secure perfect liberty to its own Christian 
servants to discharge their personal service to God in their 
non-official character. Second, the State must, by legisla- 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 117 

tion, on the one hand remove every obstacle to the 
unfettered freedom of worship of all religionists, while on 
the other it guards against the danger of indirectly 
sanctioning and, as it were, fossilising quasi-religious 
customs and beliefs which are contrary to humanity, to 
good morals, or to liberty. 

The course of the history of British India during the 
last thirty -five years, illustrates these points. Even 
Lord Canning, a year after he had expressed such keen 
satisfaction with the provision of the Queen's Proclamation 
as to religion, censured a high civil officer in the Punjab 
for attending in his private capacity and his leisure 
hours the baptism of a native convert. 1 Inferior officers 
at the head of the provincial departments of public 
instruction, themselves sceptics, attempted to prevent 
Christian professors in the State colleges 2 from privately, 
in their own houses and out of college hours, instructing 
inquirers. Lord Canning had even objected to the distri- 
bution of anonymous tracts among the natives near 
Benares, so sensitive was he as to what came to be called 
the "neutrality" promulgated in 1858. The worst, and 
we may say the last instance of this violation of neutrality 
by the Viceroy himself, was an order cautioning officers to 
guard against compromising themselves in matters of re- 
ligion in native regiments. L T p to this time, except among 
the Eomanist sepoys of the Madras army, the profession 
of conversion to Christ by any sepoy whatever had in- 
volved persecution and dismissal. Prabhu Deen, sepoy, 
was so expelled in the year 1819. The compulsion to 
salute idols had driven from the high office of commander- 
in-chief Sir Peregrine Maitland, and that iniquity was 
brought to an end. But the 170,000 sepoys of the East 
India Company's army had been always carefully guarded 
from the free and natural influence of Christian truth, and 
the result was the delusion which used the greased cart- 
ridges as an occasion of mutiny. 

1 Mr. R. N. Oust, LL.D., at Amritsar, afterwards Lord Lawrence's 
Home Secretary in Calcutta. 

2 Notably in Bengal and Bombay. 



118 THE CONVERSION OE INDIA 

The 24th Punjab Kegiment, consisting of Muzabi or 
low-caste Sikhs whose fathers had been Thugs, when 
fighting for the British Empire at the siege of Delhi, found 
among its spoils some Christian books which led them to 
ask instruction from their officers. These referred the in- 
quirers to the Church missionaries at Amritsar, t.nd after- 
wards at Peshawur. The Viceroy's action was taken by 
all parties as "a ban upon the Christian religion," and 
the bishop, then happily Dr. Cotton, did his duty. 1 The 
result was a despatch, described by him in a letter to the 
Viceroy as "very fair and very conciliatory. ... It cer- 
tainly should help to disabuse people of the notion that 
Government wish to impede the quiet and peaceful pro- 
gress of Christianity." That particular movement was 
checked by the action of Government, which has since en- 
rolled the Christian Karens in a battalion during the last 
Burmese war, and it is well understood that military no 
less than civil officers may use their private influence and 
leisure time, as enjoined by their Master, without question, 
but with discretion. It is well recognised that the pro- 
fession of Christianity by the natives of India means a 
loyalty to the Empress which nothing can buy, and the 
only safeguard for satisfactory self-government when the 
time is full. 

Nowhere shall we find the principle of religious equality 
applied to the many peculiar difficulties that arise out of 
the government of the non-Christian millions of India by 
a Christian state, with such wisdom as by John, afterwards 
the first Lord Lawrence, when at the head of the fifty-six 
choice civil and military officials, through whom he re- 
covered North-Western India from the chaos of the Mutiny. 
While still Chief Commissioner, Lawrence wrote his great 
Minute of 21st April 1858. Sir Herbert Edwardes 2 

1 The whole case is very fairly stated in the Memoir of George 
Edward Lynch Cotton, D.D., edited by Mrs. Cotton, p. 156 (1871). 

2 Ruskin's hero. See A Knight's Faith: Passages in the Life of 
Sir Herbert Edwardes, collected by John Ruskin, 1885 ; also 
Edwardes' Lecture on Our Indian Empire: its Beginning and End, 
to young men in Exeter Hall, 1860. 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 119 

had officially sent him a somewhat extreme memorandum 
on " the elimination of all unchristian principle from the 
Government of India." Sir Donald M'Leod passed on the 
communication with a letter which he pronounced " more 
moderate in its tone and marked by an enlightened and 
excellent spirit." Lawrence was willing to teach the Bible 
in State schools, and in voluntary classes wherever there 
were Christian teachers, "in order that our views of 
Christian duty might be patent to the native public." 
Edwardes would have resumed idol endowments, Lawrence 
declared that " the judgments of Providence would become 
manifest in the political disaffection which might ensue," 
and such a step would retard the progress of Christianity 
while it is condemned by the whole tenor of its teachings. 
On the subject of caste John Lawrence pointed out that 
Government had not recognised it except in the sepoy 
army, urged the raising of sweeper regiments as he himself 
had done, and of corps from the non- Aryan tribes, and antici- 
pated the " happy time " when regiments of native Chris- 
tians could be raised. But while encouraging sepoys to 
consult missionaries, he condemned preaching to the native 
soldiers in a body, unless they were of the aboriginal 
tribes destitute of a faith. He refused to disallow native 
holidays • earnestly desired to see the law altered in refer- 
ence to polygamy and early betrothals ; would prohibit 
religious processions in public as he did in the case of the 
Mohurrum at Delhi, and would interdict obscenities in 
temples ; would restrict prostitutes to their houses ; would 
increase the number of married soldiers and improve the 
condition of their wives and widows; condemned the opium 
monopoly, but did not agree as to the evil tendency of the 
liquor excise in the Punjab, where it has diminished the 
drunkenness encouraged in the Sikh rSgime. The despatch 
concludes with this noble passage : — 

' ' Sir J. Lawrence has been led, in common with others since the 
occurrence of the awful events of 1857, to ponder deeply on what may 
be the faults and shortcomings of the British as a Christian nation in 
India. In considering topics such as those treated of in this despatch, 
he would solely endeavour to ascertain what is our Christian duty. 



120 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Having ascertained that according to our erring lights and conscience, 
he would follow it out to the uttermost, undeterred by any considera- 
tion. If we address ourselves to this task, it may, with the blessing 
of Providence, not prove too difficult for us. Measures have, indeed, 
been proposed as essential to be adopted by a Christian Government 
which would be truly difficult or impossible of execution. But on 
closer consideration it will be found that such measures are not en- 
joined by Christianity, but are contrary to its spirit. Sir John 
Lawrence does entertain the earnest belief that all those measures 
which are really and truly Christian can be carried out in India, not 
only without danger to British rule, but on the contrary, with every 
advantage to its stability. Christian things done in a Christian way 
will never, the Chief Commissioner is convinced, alienate the heathen. 
About such things there are qualities which do not provoke nor excite 
distrust, nor harden to resistance. It is when unchristian things are 
done in the name of Christianity, or when Christian things are done in 
an unchristian way, that mischief and danger are occasioned. The 
difficulty is, amid the political complications, the conflicting social 
considerations, the fears and hopes of self-interest which are so apt to 
mislead human judgment, to discern clearly what is imposed upon us 
by Christian duty and what is not. Having discerned this, we have 
but to put it into practice. Sir John Lawrence is satisfied that, with- 
in the territories committed to his charge, he can carry out all those 
measures which are really matters of Christian duty on the part of the 
Government. And, further, he believes that such measures will arouse 
no danger ; will conciliate instead of provoking, and will subserve to 
the ultimate diffusion of the truth among the people. 

"Finally, the Chief Commissioner would recommend, that such 
measures and policy, having been deliberately determined on by the 
Supreme Government, be openly avowed and universally acted upon 
throughout the empire ; so that there may be no diversities of practice, 
no isolated tentative or conflicting efforts, which are, indeed, the 
surest means of exciting distrust ; so that the people may see that we 
have no sudden or sinister designs ; and so that we may exhibit that 
harmony and uniformity of conduct which befits a Christian nation 
striving to do its duty." 

So he gave back to the Mohammedans of Delhi, in due 
time, their great mosque, and when Viceroy he restored 
the Pearl Mosque of Agra and the Grand Mosque of 
Lahore, which in Kan jit Singh's time the Sikhs had 
desecrated. When the petty chief of Eajgarh, in Central 
India, a Eajpoot, became a Mohammedan, and the outcry 



great Britain's attempt 121 

of his Hindu nobles against him was such that he proposed 
to abdicate, Lord Lawrence ascertained that his people 
were satisfied with his rule, and decided that so long as 
their chief was just they must be loyal without reference 
to his creed. When the man took a Mohammedan name, 
after circumcision, the paramount Government gave him a 
Mohammedan title. Even in the Feudatory States of 
India there was at last that religious toleration which the 
missionary John Wilson 1 had claimed when he settled the 
Irish Presbyterians in Kathiawar, and Stephen Hislop 2 
when he secured the liberty of Pandurang, the Brahman 
convert, in Nagpoor State. Eajgarh is the leading case 
which establishes in Native States the principle accepted 
by the Legislature in civil affairs, that "no rights shall 
be forfeited or impaired merely by change of religion or 
loss of caste." 3 There is now no great Native State in 
India, Hindu or Mohammedan, in which there are not 
Christian missionaries and churches. There only, in all 
the world of Islam, are Mohammedans constrained to be 
tolerant. From the first, such Hindu governments as 
those which still exist in Cochin and Travankor, received 
Jewish, Christian, and Parsee refugees all along the Western 
Coast of India. But such communities were not aggres- 
sive in the high spiritual sense of the present missionaries 
of the evangel sent by the Eeformed Churches. 

In the department of Public Instruction, which in each 
of the twelve Provincial Governments of India bene- 
volently undertakes the education of the millions not in 
the Feudatory States, it has been difficult even up to the 
present time to observe strictly the principle of the Pro- 
clamation of 1858. Theoretically the State should keep 
aloof from direct teaching, confining its administration to 
inspection and grants-in-aid for secular efficiency. After 
the evidence before the Committee on the Charter of 1853 
given by two remarkable men of missionary antecedents, 
Dr. Alexander Duff and John Clark Marshman, C.S.I., the 

1 Life of John Wilson, D.D., F.B.S., 1st ed., p. 294 (1878). 

2 Stephen Hislop, 2nd ed., p. 106 (1889). 

8 Lord Lawrence. By Sir Charles Aitchison. Oxford (1892). 



122 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



despatch of 1854 laid down this principle, and added, with 
respect to religious instruction in the Government Institu- 
tions : " These Institutions were founded for the benefit 
of the whole population of India ; and in order to effect 
their object it was, and is, indispensable that the educa- 
tion conveyed in them should be exclusively secular. The 
Bible is, we understand, placed in the libraries of the 
colleges and schools, and the pupils are free to consult it. 
This is as it should be, and, moreover, we have no desire 
to prevent or to discourage any explanations which the 
pupils may of their own free will ask from their masters 
on the subject, provided such information is given out of 
school hours." The same despatch established on a catholic 
basis the Universities of India, now five in number. 
But its provisions were long so applied that the State 
colleges became virtual monopolies which destroyed Hin- 
duism and discouraged Christianity, while putting nothing 
in the place of their moral sanctions. Under the influence 
of the missionary representatives in their Syndicates 
the Universities were at first practically fair to all 
needs ; but the native majorities have of late eliminated 
the legitimate Christian element from their administration. 
Ten years ago a commission appointed by Lord Eipon 
led to a return to neutrality ; but so long as State colleges 
exist, however few, that is incomplete. On the other hand, 
it is the independent Christian colleges and schools which, 
by the superior efficiency of their teaching of literature 
and science, secure greater popularity and a larger pro- 
portion of the grants than the non-Christian independent 
colleges. 

The legislative even more than the administrative 
action of the Government of India, since the East India 
Company gave place to the Crown, is calculated to allow 
a fair field to the evangelisation of India. In 1860 the 
Penal Code became law, and at one stroke gave the varied 
cults of Southern Asia, in common with the Christians, 
the most humanising and indirectly Christianising piece 
of jurisprudence that the world has seen. Aided by Sir 
J. M. Macleod, Lord Macaulay, sixty years ago, drafted 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 123 

this body of criminal enactments on the basis of Living- 
ston's Code of Louisiana and the Code Penal of France, 
just at the time Austin published his great work. The 
draft was distrusted by a whole generation of Indian 
experts till one of Macaulay's successors, Sir Barnes Pea- 
cock, took it in hand and passed it through the Legisla- 
tive Council as Act XLY. of 1860. The Code owes to 
Macaulay its good English and its remarkable illustrative 
cases under each section. The experience of the Code 
during the past generation has falsified the fears of the 
local judges, and has more than justified Macleod and 
Macaulay. So acute an expert as Sir Fitz-James Stephen 
has declared it to be "triumphantly successful." His 
successor as law member of the Governor-General's Council, 
Mr. Whitley Stokes, the great scholar, describes its study 
in English by Hindus and Mohammedans as " self-educa- 
tion." It has been translated into all the languages of 
India, with results in teaching humanity and justice which 
place our fellow -subjects there at the head of all the 
peoples of the East. Since it was drafted, this Indian 
Code has found imitators in those of the State of New 
York and the German Empire. These have improved on 
it only in the methodical arrangement, and they have had 
few of its difficulties to contend with, arising from crimes 
peculiar to India or Asia, and from the political position. 

The Code, embodying and applying the principles of 
religious toleration, is in one sense the charter of that 
liberty which Christianity alone teaches, and, when true 
to itself, enforces and secures. Jurists like Macaulay and 
Barnes Peacock were succeeded by one greater than either 
in this region, Sir Henry Sumner Maine. Alike as law 
member of the Governor-General's Council for seven years, 
and as Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University for four, 
that statesman applied to India, to its native Christians as 
to its Parsees, to its European and American Christians as to 
its Hindus and Mohammedans, the best fruits of Christian 
legislation in the [West, in all those matters of inheritance, 
marriage, and civil rights which lie at the foundation of 
society, as they are the finest practical fruit of the Christi- 



124 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

anised intellect and conscience. Except in the two ques- 
tions of Hindu child-marriages, and minors and the age of 
discretion — the latter still left to the equity of judges in 
Christendom — Maine completed, substantially, the State's 
duty in the conversion of India. In the Rede Lecture 
which, after his return to England, he delivered before the 
University of Cambridge in 1875, he used this language, 
which the Christian apologist will interpret as true of the 
Hellenic fulness of the time : — 

' ' The difficulty of the experiment of governing India, if conscienti- 
ously examined, will be regarded with more consideration. There is 
a double current of influences playing upon this remarkable dominion. 
One of these currents has its origin in this country, beginning in the 
strong moral and political convictions of a free people. The other 
arises in India itself, engendered among a dense and dark vegetation 
of primitive opinion, of prejudice if you please, stubbornly rooted in 
the dibris of the past. As has been truly enough said, the British 
rulers of India are like men bound to make their watches keep true 
time in two longitudes at once. Nevertheless, the paradoxical position 
must be accepted. If they are too slow, there will be no improvement ; 
if they are too fast, there will be no security. Those who, guided 
solely by Western social experience, are too eager for innovations 
which seem to them undistinguishable from improvements, will, per- 
haps, be overtaken by a wholesome distrust when they see in institu- 
tions and customs which would otherwise appear to them ripe for 
destruction the materials of knowledge by which the past, and to some 
extent the present, of the West may be interpreted. On the other 
hand, though it be virtually impossible to reconcile the great majority 
of the natives of India to the triumph of Western ideas, manners, and 
practices, which is, nevertheless, inevitable, we may, at all events, 
say to the best and most intelligent of them that we do not renovate 
or destroy in mere arrogance. Whatever be the nature and value of 
that bundle of influences which we call 'Progress,' nothing can be 
more certain than that, when a society is once touched by it, it spreads 
like a contagion. Yet, so far as our knowledge extends, there was 
only one society in which it was endemic, and, putting that aside, no 
race or nationality left entirely to itself appears to have developed any 
very great intellectual result, except perhaps poetry. Not one of those 
intellectual excellences which we regard as characteristic of the great 
progressive races of the world — not the law of the Romans, not the 
philosophy and sagacity of the Germans, not the luminous order of 
the French, not the political aptitude of the English, not that in- 



great Britain's attempt 125 

sight into physical nature to which all races have contributed — would, 
apparently, have come into existence if these races had been left to 
themselves. To one small people, covering in the original seat no 
more than a handful of territory, it was given to create the principle 
of progress, of movement upwards and not backwards or downwards— 
of destruction tending to construction. That people was the Greek. 
Except the blind forces of Nature, nothing moves in this world which 
is not Greek in its origin. A ferment spreading from that source has 
vitalised all the great progressive races of mankind, penetrating from 
one to another, and producing results accordant with its hidden and 
latent genius, and results, of course, often far greater than exhibited 
in Greece itself. It is this principle of progress which we Englishmen 
are communicating to India. We did not create it. "We deserve no 
special credit for it. It came to us filtered through many different 
media. But we have received it, and, as we have received it, so we 
pass it on. There is no reason why, if it has time to work, it should 
not develop in India effects as wonderful as in others of the societies 
of mankind." 

In 1850 the last of the East India Company's Governors- 
General, the Marquis of Dalhousie, had caused Act XXI. 
to be passed for securing, in his own language, 1 "liberty 
of conscience, and for the protection of converts, and 
especially of Christian converts, against injury in respect 
of property or inheritance by reason of a change in their 
religious belief." What was thus done for inheritance 
Maine elaborated and applied to marriage and divorce in 
Act XXI. of 1866. On the day on which, under the ad- 
ministration of Lord Lawrence as Viceroy, the Act was 
passed, the great lawyer happened to preside in Council, 
and from the Viceroy's seat he closed his exposition of the 
law of conversion, especially in an empire like British 
India, with these memorable words : " We will not force 
any man to be a Christian • we will not even tempt any 
man to be a Christian ; but if he chooses to become a 
Christian, it would be shameful if we did not protect him 
and his in those rights of conscience which we have been the 
first to introduce into the country, and if we did not apply 
to him and his those principles of equal dealing between 

1 Minute by the Most Noble the Governor-General of India, dated the 
28th of February 1856 (Calcutta). 



126 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

man and man of which we are in India the sole deposi- 
taries." What a contrast to the Greek and the Roman, 
the Portuguese and the Dutch principles and precedents ! 

But the good work is not yet accomplished. In the 
development of society, and the growth of the Christian 
Church in India, questions, generally of detail rather than 
of principle, are always demanding settlement. The 
Legislature cannot in these go ahead of Hindu and 
Mohammedan opinion too fast, while the Church must 
beware of asking the State to attempt by prohibitive 
enactment what should be the natural, if slow, outcome 
of ethical and spiritual progress. Hence the reply 1 of 
the Government of India in 1881 to a memorial from 
the American Marathi missionaries in Western India : "It 
would scarcely be possible for the Government of India 
to embark on legislation in connection with infant-marriages 
except at the wish and with the co-operation of the classes 
most closely interested. ... It may be hoped that the 
growing enlightenment of the Hindus may lead them 
before long to seek an alteration of the Hindu law re- 
garding infant-marriages, in order that the injustice and 
unhappiness which are so often occasioned by it may 
be averted from all, whether thay are received into the 
Christian community or remain Hindus." 

In 1853, when, as Lieutenant-Governor, he opened the 
Government college at Benares, James Thomason, the most 
wisely benevolent of all the East India Company's admini- 
strators since Charles Grant, spoke to the Brahmans of 
that central stronghold of Hinduism of the coming con- 
version of the races of India. With assured faith he 
described it as "a new state of things when a higher 
philosophy and a purer faith will pervade this land, not 
enforced by the arbitrary decrees of a persecuting govern- 
ment, not hypocritically professed to meet the wishes of 
a proselytising government, but cordially adopted by a 
willing people yielding to the irresistible arguments placed 
before them." This sure because supernatural process of 

1 See Report of the Third Decennial Missionary Conference held at 
Bombay 1892-93, p. 61. 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 127 

evangelical persuasion and absorption is slow on account 
of the human factor. The faith and obedience of every 
Christian conies far short of the promises and the com- 
mand of the great God our Saviour. For centuries these 
were invisible even in the Reformed Churches, which, in 
their standards, ritual, and theological systems, almost 
ignore the doctrine of the Kingdom of Christ. England had 
been put in trust of India for two hundred years before an 
English missionary as such gave the message of Christ to 
its millions, and then he dared not leave the protection of 
the Danish flag. 

When, at the end of the eighteenth century, individual 
Christians as distinct from Church organisations introduced 
what was then called the new era of Benevolence, it seemed 
as if India would continue to be abandoned by Christendom 
to commercial monopolists and antichristian intolerance. 
The awaking enthusiasm sought the negro slaves of America, 
just as the temporarily - aroused conscience of Puritan 
Britain had attempted to save its Eed Indians. Next in 
interest to the negroes were the allied islanders of the 
Pacific Ocean when first revealed by Captain Cook. Then 
came, as the objects of compassion, the negroes of West 
Africa. Charles Grant had written from India to Charles 
Simeon, offering to support English missionaries in Bengal, 
but not an Englishman could be found to preach the 
gospel there. 

The Moravian Brethren, 1 the Wesleys, the Edinburgh, 
the Glasgow, and the London 2 Missionary Societies, even 
the Church Missionary Society, passed India by through 
the first thirteen years of the nineteenth century. By 
small collections or grants of money and books only, and 
by a message from King George I., through the two 
Anglican Societies for the Promotion of Christian Know- 
ledge and for the Propagation of the Gospel, 3 was the faint 
attempt made to discharge the responsibility of English- 

1 The brief and abortive mission of Dr. Heyne and another to Cal- 
cutta, Serampore, and Patna in 1777. 

2 Mr. Forsyth was sent out to Calcutta and Chinsurah in 1798. 
8 Classified Digest of the Records of the S.P.G., 1701-1892. 



128 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

speaking Christians. The United States of America did 
not send missionaries to India, Congregationalist or Baptist, 
till the year 1813, when the Church Missionary Society 
also ordained its first Englishman. The Wesley ans fol- 
lowed in 1817. Southey, himself an Anglican, taunted 
his Church with its failure to supply missionaries for 
India : " The first step towards winning the natives to 
our religion is to show them that we have one. . . . There 
is ability and there is learning in the Church of England, 
but its age of fermentation has long been over. 1 

The Englishman who was chosen by God to change all 
that was the Baptist shoemaker and schoolmaster, William 
Carey. Yet as Paul when sent to Macedonia essayed to 
penetrate Asia, Carey himself sought Tahiti. In him were 
found the necessary faith and humility, the burning fire 
which Christ came to send on the earth, and the gift of 
tongues or scholarship conferred by the Wisdom of God. 
He was as really called by Christ and trained by the Holy 
Spirit and the Providence of God to be the English apostle 
of India as the young Pharisee, Saul, was to be the apostle 
of Europe. All that went before him in the Coast Mission 
of the south was preparatory, save only the translation of 
the Word of God into the Tamil tongue, first published 
in 1725. Ziegenbalg, Schult-ze, and even Schwartz, were 
Germans, and all that Denmark could do for them, as 
for Carey, was to give them the protection of its flag in 
Tranquebar and Serampore. While for forty- one years 
Carey did his own work in Northern India, and he and 
his brotherhood influenced all Asia from the Persian Gulf 
to the China Sea, this apparently obscure Calvinist was 
used by God to summon Great Britain to the conversion 
of India. Society after society started into life at his 
simple call. Scottish gentlemen, like Eobert and James 
Haldane, caught the impulse; the former sold Airthrey 
and endowed with its price, £35,500, the mission to 
Benares, for which Charles Grant had vainly pled with the 

1 See the first number of The Quarterly Review for April 1809, 
where Southey answers Sydney Smith's attack on missions to India in 
Tlie Edinburgh Review. 



great Britain's attempt 129 

Church of England, only to have their offering and them- 
selves driven back by William Pitt and Henry Dundas, to 
the gain of Home Missions for the time. Englishmen like 
the Cambridge Senior Wrangler, Henry Martyn, learned 
from him to do the work of an evangelist to the Moham- 
medans of India, Arabia, and Persia, protected by the 
chaplain's office, as the missionary had been first by the 
indigo-planter's calling and then by the Danish Govern- 
ment. Americans, like Adoniram Judson and his wife, 
sailed from New England to be sent by Carey to Burma, 
and to found the great Maratha mission of Western India. 
In 1830, four years before his death, Carey wrote, "But 
a few years have passed away since the Protestant world 
was awakened to missionary effort. Since that time the 
annual revenues collected for this object have grown to 
the then unthought-of sum of £400,000," or one-seventh 
of what, sixty-three years after, is given for the evangel- 
isation of the whole non-Christian world. 

The Churches which had kept out, and even cast out, 
the evangelical missionaries, foreign and home, up till 
1830, then atoned, in Scotland at least, for their treachery 
to their Head. The old historic Church of Scotland, as 
a Church, became a missionary organisation. Thomas 
Chalmers and Dr. Inglis chose India as its field, the capital 
Calcutta as the centre of its operations, and Brahmanism 
as the special object of its aggressive action. Its first 
missionary, Alexander Duff, landed in Bengal in time to 
receive the apostolic succession, in the highest sense, from 
the venerable Carey. No longer compelled by the East 
India Company's intolerant system to hide his mission in 
the interior, Duff opened his Christian school in Calcutta, 
in the chief native thoroughfare of Chitpore Road. He 
planted his mission -house and lecture -room, and finally 
his college, in the great educational centre of the city, 
beside which there has since risen the Catholic Calcutta 
University. 

From the day that Carey's earliest "Periodical Accounts" 
reached Edinburgh and the Ochils, Scotland has been true 
to the duty of the British Empire to the people of India, 



130 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

The opposition of Pitt drove the agents of the Edinburgh 
Missionary Society, founded in 1796, to the Foulahs of 
West Africa and the Mohammedan Tartars on the Caspian 
Sea. But after the more tolerant charter of 1813, when 
the Scottish as well as the English Established Church, 
led by Claudius Buchanan, first sent out chaplains, 
that missionary society transferred its men to India, 
sending out in 1823 Donald Mitchell, who, when a 
lieutenant in the Company's army, had found Christ for 
himself, and burned to preach the good news to the people. 
In the district south of Bombay where he lies, he was followed 
by university men of equal devotedness and culture, like 
Robert Nesbit and John Wilson, who in 1835 formally 
represented the Church of which they had been ordained 
ministers. Duffs early successes, like those of Carey, set in 
motion a second tide of missionary enthusiasm, on which 
John Anderson and others were wafted to the city of 
Madras and South India in 1837. The disruption and 
historical cessation of the old Church of Scotland in 
1843 resulted in the two organisations of the Church of 
Scotland Free and Established. The former, retaining all 
the missionaries and converts, has ever since extended its 
operations in India and elsewhere. The latter, after a 
time, has in the old building and with the old endowments 
in Calcutta and Madras, and in the new fields of the 
Punjab and Darjeeling, conducted vigorous missions. 

In South India the Danish and the German missionaries 
repeated, on a smaller scale but still with similarly 
disastrous results, the mistake of the Dutch there and in 
Ceylon. They made a compromise with Hinduism, which 
from the first poisoned their native Church and, after the 
death of Schwartz in 1798, brought it almost to an end. 
Receiving the pure message of the evangel, having in 
their hands the Word of God in their mother tongue, with 
schools for their children, and foreigners of apostolic life 
and doctrine as their pastors, the Tamil Christians, who 
individually professed conversion to Christ to the number 
of at least fifty thousand last century, proved to be no 
more a self-propagating and spiritually aggressive Church 



great Britain's attempt 131 

than that of the Syrians of Malabar, or that of Eome by 
their side. Caste faced the missionaries through the 
eighteenth century, from Ziegenbalg to Schwartz, with a 
power that seemed as if it could never be shaken or broken. 
The Lutherans followed the Roman Catholics in recognising 
it as a social distinction, and in perpetuating it even at the 
Lord's Table. Brotherhood in the Christian communities 
became impossible, the graces of the Holy Spirit were 
choked from the first ; distrust and dissension, pride and 
malice, made havoc of the infant evangelical Church. The 
thousands of the Tranquebar, the Tan j or, the Trichinopoly, 
the Cuddalor, and the Madras caste converts, instead of 
spreading after Schwartz's death like the leaven, died out, 
leaving as successors a few score who dotted the desolation 
of the coast when in 1849 Duff 1 visited it. For the second 
time in India the Reformed Churches of the Continent of 
Europe made a fatal mistake. 

As the nineteenth century went on, three great Mis- 
sionary Societies of England, besides the first, that of the 
Baptists in North India, practically mapped out South 
India among them. The Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel, in 1829 becoming directly missionary towards 
non- Christians, took over the native congregations and 
schools under six German missionaries in the British 
districts, relieving the Christian Knowledge Society which 
had been supporting them, and extended the work begun 
by Schwartz and by Satiyanadan, the first native ordained 
by the Tranquebar missionaries in Tinnevelli. Before that, 
in 1820, when Mr. Hough was chaplain at Palamkotta, he 
brought about the Church Missionary Society's entrance 
into that since fruitful field. The London Missionary 
Society at a still earlier period, 1804, began to divide with 
the Church Missionary Society the equally hopeful region 
of Travankor and Cochin, the scene of the failures of the 
Syrians, the Romanists, and the Lutherans. In Madura 

1 See Dr. Duffs Diary, at pp. 133-144, vol. ii. of his Life (1879), for 
the effect of caste on the Lutheran and Roman Catholic converts ; also 
Bishop Wilson's Life by Baternan, and Sherring's History of Protestant 
Missions in India, 1875. 



132 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

also the Propagation Society inherited the Lutheran 
work at Kamnad, while the American Board, in 1834, 
began their network of missions there, which, after a 
struggle 1 with caste among the Danish converts and their 
descendants, has spread over the district where the great 
Jesuits failed so lamentably. In 1850 Henry M. Scudder, 
M.D., of the Eeformed (Dutch) of America, began among 
the million and a half of the Hindus of North Arcot the 
medical mission which has since made that Church and the 
Scudder family illustrious. Taught by the experience of 
the Danish-Halle Lutherans, and by the early failure of an 
attempt at Mangalor to meet illegitimately the pressure 
of the Home Churches for baptisms, the Basel Evangelical 
Missionary Society, representing the warm piety of 
Wurtemberg, has since 1834 covered the western districts 
of the province of Madras with industrial missions identi- 
fied with the names of Hebich, Moegling, and Gundert. 
The Wesleyan Missionary Society, true to the spirit of 
Samuel Wesley, Eector of Epworth, who with his wife 
desired to go out to India where Ziegenbalg and Schultze 
were doing so much, sent missionaries under Dr. Coke to 
Ceylon in 1813, and began soon after the remarkable 
mission in the hill country of Mysore, now a self-governing 
Hindu state of five millions of people, in the council of 
which one of its missionaries is a representative. 

With hardly an exception the British and American 
Christian missions to India have from the first — that is 
from the year 1793, when William Carey began his 
mission work in the indigo swamps of the Dinajpore 
district of North Bengal — vigilantly avoided every 
appearance of compromise with Hinduism in life, doctrine, 
and ritual, and have consistently taught (Matt, xxviii. 18- 
20) the people all things whatsoever Christ commanded. 

1 In July 1847, the American missionaries passed this resolution — 
" That the mission regards caste as an essential part of heathenism, 
and its full and practical renunciation, after instruction, as essential 
to satisfactory evidence of piety ; and that renunciation of caste 
implies at least a readiness to eat, under proper circumstances, with 
any Christians of any caste." 






great Britain's attempt 133 

The methods followed by all were first laid down by Carey, 
and most persistently applied to the middle and educated 
classes of the Hindus, especially the Brahmans, by Duff. 

The first and greatest is the Word of God translated 
into the mother tongue of the people, and printed, circu- 
lated, and taught so as to be in every hand and in many 
memories. To secure this was Carey's first and chief 
duty, not only for his own densely peopled provinces of 
Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, and Assam, but for all Southern Asia. 
In the eighteen hours of every day of the forty-one years 
during which he lived in India, he did every kind of 
missionary work short of the medical, but all he did was 
meant to result in the production and printing of the verna- 
cular Bible 1 for every race in the southern half of Asia, 
except the Tamils, who already had received the treasure. 
When he and Marshman and Ward had fairly started this 
enterprise, enlisting the chaplains Henry Martyn and 
Thomason, and even a Eoman Catholic scholarly priest, 
with a fine catholicity, in the enterprise, the Serampore 
brotherhood added to this and their daily vernacular 
preaching the foundation and endowment of a Christian 

1 Sir Charles U. Aitchison, K.C.S.I., now a Vice-President of the 
CM. Soc, in his address at the Centenary of the Baptist Missionary 
Society, thus spoke of the Bible in India : — " The Bible is the best of 
all missionaries. Missionaries die, the printed. Bible remains for ever. 
It finds access through doors that are closed to the human foot, and 
into countries where missionaries have not yet ventured to go ; and, 
above all, it speaks to the consciences of men with a power that no 
human voice can cany. It is the living seed of God, and soon it 
springs up, men know not how, and bears fruit unto everlasting life. 
I can tell you, from my own personal knowledge, that no book is more 
studied in India now by the native population of all parties than the 
Christian Bible. There is a fascination about it that, somehow or 
other, draws seekers after God to read it. To thousands who are not 
Christians, but who are seeking after God, the Bible in the vernaculars 
of India is an exceedingly precious book. The leader of the Brahmo 
Somaj, which represents the highest phase of educated Hindu thought, 
in a recent lecture to the students of the Punjab University, exhorted 
them seriously to study the Scriptures as the best guide to purity of 
heart and life." 



134 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

college. Carey and Marshman were the first educational 
missionaries, not only because they were men of culture 
and foresight, missionary statesmen who must adapt their 
means so as to make all subservient to their divine end, 
but because they sought at once the conversion to Christ 
of the born leaders of the people, and the creation of an 
educated indigenous ministry. 

So early as the first year of this century Carey saw 
the need of English education as a weapon in the warfare 
with Brahmanism, when he wrote to his Society : " There 
appears to be a favourable change in the general temper 
of the people. Commerce has roused new thoughts and 
awakened new energies; so that hundreds, if we could 
skilfully teach them gratis, would crowd to learn the 
English language. We hope this may be in our power 
some time, and may be a happy means of diffusing the 
gospel. Is not the universal inclination of the Bengalees 
to learn English a favourable circumstance which may be 
improved to valuable ends ? " 

In 1816 he thus wrote to the American Baptist General 
Convention of Burma, to which he had sent Judson, 
following his eldest son : — 

" We know not what your immediate expectations are relative to the 
Burman empire, but we hope your views are not confined to the imme- 
diate conversion of the natives by the preaching of the Word. Could 
a church of converted natives be obtained at Rangoon, it might exist 
for a while, and be scattered, or perish for want of additions. Prom 
all we have seen hitherto, we are ready to think that the dispensations 
of Providence point to labours that may operate, indeed, more slowly 
on the population, but more effectually in the end : as knowledge, 
once put into fermentation, will not only influence the part where it 
is first deposited, but leaven the whole lump. The slow progress of 
conversion in such a mode of teaching the natives may not be so 
encouraging, and may require, in all, more faith and patience ; but it 
appears to have been the process of things, in the progress of the 
Reformation, during the reigns of Henry, Edward, Elizabeth, James, 
and Charles. And should the work of evangelising India be thus 
slow and silently progressive, which, however, considering the age of 
the world, is not perhaps very likely, still the grand result will amply 
recompense us, and you, for all our toils. We are sure to take the 



great Britain's attempt 135 

fortress, if we can but persuade ourselves to sit down long enough 
before it. ' We shall reap if we faint not. ' 

"And then, very dear brethren, when it shall be said of the seat 
of our labours, The infamous swinging-post is no longer erected ; the 
widow bums no more on the funeral pile ; the obscene dances and 
songs are seen and heard no more ; the gods are thrown to the moles 
and to the bats, and Jesus is known as the God of the whole land ; 
the poor Hindu goes no more to the Ganges to be washed from his 
filthiness, but to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness ; the 
temples are forsaken ; the crowds say, ' Let us go up to the house of 
the Lord, and He shall teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His 
statutes ' ; the anxious Hindus no more consume their property, their 
strength, and their lives in vain pilgrimages, but they come at once 
to Him who can save to ' the uttermost ' ; the sick and the dying are 
no more dragged to the Ganges, but look to the Lamb of God, and 
commit their souls into His faithful hands ; the children, no more 
sacrificed to idols, are become ' the seed of the Lord, that He may 
be glorified ' ; the public morals are improved ; the language of 
Canaan is learnt ; benevolent societies are formed ; civilisation and 
salvation walk arm in arm together ; the desert blossoms ; the earth 
yields her increase ; angels and glorified spirits hover with joy over 
India, and carry ten thousand messages of love from the Lamb in the 
midst of the throne ; and redeemed souls from the different villages, 
towns, and cities of this immense country constantly add to the 
number, and swell the chorus of the redeemed, ' Unto Him that loved 
us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, unto Him be the 
glory ' ; — when this grand result of the labours of God's servants in 
India shall be realised, shall we then think that we have laboured in 
vain, and spent our strength for nought ? Surely not. Well, the 
decree is gone forth ! ' My word shall prosper in the thing whereunto 
I sent it.'" 

Two years after Carey applied this to India in his 
Serampore " College for the Instruction of Asiatic, Chris- 
tian, and Other Youth in Eastern Literature and European 
Science." 

By the time, in 1830, that Duff began his career in 
India, all things were ready for such an evangelical move- 
ment in British India, under Lord William Bentinck, then 
not only tolerant but ready to applaud and imitate the 
missionary. The first Metropolitan, Dr. Middleton, had 
meanwhile avowedly followed Carey's example by building 
Bishop's College, but that was neither catholic nor in the 



136 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

centre of affairs, and has now ceased, like Serampore 
itself, to influence the educated natives. Not so the 
institution which bears the name of the Duff College in 
Calcutta. What Henry Martyn had pronounced to be so 
difficult as to amount to a miracle, what long after Bishop 
Caldwell, 1 a missionary worthy of Carey and Duff, lamented 
as non-existent outside of Christian colleges, Christendom 
saw and thanked God for the sight — Brahman after 
Brahman putting on the yoke of Christ by baptism, and 
in turn becoming, like Paul, the ordained preachers of the 
faith which once they had persecuted or contemned, and 
that in Anglican and American, as well as Scots Presby- 
terian Churches. The native historian of the Church of 
India, while he records the fact of the first five of his 
countrymen baptized by Ziegenbalg on the 12th May 
1807 — "five adult heathen slaves of Danish masters" — 
and the names of Satiyanadan, first ordained minister in 
1799, and of Krishna Pal, the carpenter whom, in 1800, 
Carey led down into the waters of the Ganges, will not 
forget the Koolin Brahman, the Eev. Professor Krishna 
Mohun Banner jea, afterwards honorary LL.D. of the Cal- 
cutta University, and the Eev. Gopinath Nundy, who 
witnessed a good confession before the Mohammedan rebels 
of Allahabad in the darkest time of the Mutiny of 1857. 
Mr. Sherring records that of the forty-eight educated con- 
verts of Duff's mission in 1871, nine were ministers, ten 
catechists, seventeen professors and higher grade teachers, 
eight were Government servants of the higher grade, and 

1 After forty-two years' experience in the Presidency of Madras, 
that able missionary wrote thus in his protest against Reserve in 
Communicating Religious Instruction to Non- Christians in Mission 
Schools, in 1879 — "I have had some experience in the work of con- 
version myself, and have tried in succession every variety of method. 
Let me mention then the remarkable fact, that during the whole of 
this long period not one educated high-caste Hindu, so far as I am 
aware, has been converted to Christianity in connection with any 
mission or Church, except through the Christian education received 
in mission schools. Such converts may not be very numerous, and I 
regret that they are not, but they are all that are." 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 137 

four were assistant-surgeons and doctors. On the other 
side of India Dr. John Wilson was doing a similar work ; 
in 1839 he baptized two Parsee students, "the first 
proselytes from the religion of Zoroaster in modern 
times " ; of these the Eev. Dhanjibhai Naoroji still sur- 
vives. 

Up to 1830, when Dr. Duff developed in Calcutta the 
system of evangelising by teaching, and by training an 
educated Asiatic ministry, the number of native members 
of the various reformed communities in all India and the 
adjoining lands of Burma and Ceylon did not exceed 
27,000. 1 The caste-compromise of the Lutherans and the 
restricted methods of the new and then inexperienced 
English societies account for this. Ten years after Duff, 
Wilson, and Anderson had, in the three great Presidency 
centres, linked evangelical Christianity to truth and pro- 
gress of every kind in the future history of India, the 
number was 57,000. Twenty years after it was 127,000. 
The whole number in May 1857, a hundred years after the 
battle of Plassey had given Clive virtual supremacy in 
Bengal and all India, may be taken at 130,000; in 1861 
a careful census shows that it was 138,731. The Mutiny 
was provoked and used by discontented Hindu and 
Mohammedan leaders, like Nana Dhoondopant, the ex- 
king of Oudh, and their followers, to substitute their own 
rule for that of the British, under the restored suzerainty 
of Bahadoor Shah as emperor. So far, in the few districts 
of North and Central India which they influenced, the 
movement may be viewed as rebellion. But there is no 
evidence that it was favoured by the mass of the people, 
or that it was occasioned by any of the timid and partial 
reforms which culminated in 1850 in Lord Dalhousie's 
legislative grant of toleration to converts from one faith 
to another. The mutineers, and still more the rabble of 
the cities who revelled in the chaos, treated native 
Christians as identified with the governing class. 

In the first century's history of the evangelical conver- 

1 According to those cautious statists, the late Joseph Mullens, D.D., 
and M. A. Sherring, LL.B. 



138 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

sion of India, the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 opened a new 
period. It tested, by persecution, the reality and the 
character of the faith of the converts. It proved to be a 
call to the conscience of Christendom. 

The number of white Christians known or believed to 
have been butchered by the mutineers and their brutal 
agents was fifteen hundred, of whom thirty-seven were 
missionaries, chaplains, and their families at Delhi, Sialkot, 
Shahjahanpoor, Futtehghur, Futtehpoor, Muttra, Goruk- 
poor, Gwalior, and Cawnpore above all. With them were 
catechists like Wilayat Ali, Thakoor, Dhokul Parshad, 
Paramanand, Solomon, Eamchunder Mitter, Jiwan Masih, 
Eaphael, Dr. Chaman Lai, and others all done to death, 
all martyrs of Christ. The Mohammedans always and the 
Hindus occasionally offered such their lives at the price of 
denying their Lord. Not one instance can be cited of 
failure to confess Him by men and women, very often of 
weak physique, and but yesterday of the same faith as 
their murderers. 1 The only known cases in which life was 
purchased by denial were those of one officer of mixed 
blood and some band-boys of Portuguese descent and re- 
ligious profession. Happily the records of the infant 
Church of India contain the narrative of a confessor who 
survived the torture of that time. Gopinath Nundy, third 
of Duff's Brahmanical converts in 1832, had been given to 
the American Presbyterian Mission and ordained over the 
station of Futtehpoor. Sent off by Eobert Tudor Tucker, 
the Company's judge, who soon after fell himself a martyr 
for Christ, 2 Gopinath was on his way in charge of all the 
Christian women of the station to Allahabad Fort, when 
he and his family were seized by the Moulavi Lyakut Ali 
after the massacre of the European officers of the Sixth 

1 See Sherring's The Indian Church during the Rebellion, 2nd ed. 
1859, and Duff's The Indian Rebellion : its Causes and Results, 2nd 
ed. 1858. 

2 See Sir John Kaye's History of the Sepoy War in India, vol. ii. p. 
363. R. T. Tucker was brother of the well-known Commissioner of 
Benares and uncle of A. L. 0. E., still the devoted Christian missionary 
lady and writer in the Punjab. 



great Britain's attempt 139 

Native Infantry. The Moulavi had set up the green 
standard of the titular Emperor of Delhi in the garden 
known as Khusroo Bagh, while the Christian refugees 
were shut up in the fort and the city raged with sedition. 
The Bengali missionary and his wife thus confessed Christ 
before the bloodthirsty Mohammedan : — 

" When we were brought before him, we found him seated on a 
chair, surrounded by men with drawn swords. "We made our salaams ; 
upon which he ordered us to sit down, and put to us the following 
questions : ' Who are you ? ' ' Christians. ' ' What place do you 
come from?' ' Futtehpore.' 'What was your occupation?' 
'Preaching and teaching the Christian religion.' 'Are you a 
padre?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Was it not you who used to go about read- 
ing and distributing tracts in the streets and villages ? ' ' Yes, sir ; 
it was I and my catechists. ' ' How many Christians have you 
made?' 'I did not make any Christians, for no human being can 
change the heart of another ; but God, through my instrumentality, 
brought to the belief of His true religion about a couple of dozens.' 
On this the man exclaimed, in a great rage, and said, ' Tauba ! 
tauba ! (repent). What downright blasphemy ! God never makes 
any one a Christian ; but you Kafirs pervert the people. He always 
makes people Musalmans ; for the religion which we follow is the 
only true one. How many Mohammedans have you perverted to 
your religion ? ' 'I have not perverted any one, but, by the grace 
of God, ten were turned from darkness to the glorious light of the 
gospel.' Hearing this, the man's countenance became as red as fire ; 
and he exclaimed, 'You are a great "haramzadah" (traitor to your 
salt) ! you have renounced your forefathers' faith, and become a child 
of Satan, and now use your every effort to bring others into the same 
road of destruction. You deserve a cruel death. Your nose, ears, 
and hands should be cut off at different times, so as to make your 
sufferings continue for some time ; and your children ought to be 
taken into slavery.' Upon this, Mrs. Kundy, folding her hands, said 
to the Moulavi, ' You will confer a very great favour by ordering us 
all to be killed at once, and not to be tortured by a lingering death.' 
After keeping silent for a while, he exclaimed, 'Subhan Allah, you 
appear to be a respectable man. I pity you and your family ; and, as 
a friend, I advise you to become Mohammedans : by doing so, you 
will not only save your lives, but will be raised to a high rank.' My 
answer was, ' We prefer death to any inducement you can hold out. ' 
The man then appealed to my wife, and asked her what she would 
do. Her answer was, thank God, as firm as mine. She said she 



140 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

was ready to submit to any punishment lie could inflict, but she 
would not renounce her faith. The Moulavi then asked if I had read 
the Koran. My answer was, 'Yes, sir.' He then said, 'You could 
not have read it with a view to be profited, but simply to pick out 
passages in order to argue with Mohammedans.' Moreover he said, 
' I will allow you three days to consider, and then I will send for you 
and read a portion of the Koran to you. If you believe, and become 
Mohammedans, well and good ; but if not, your noses shall be cut 
off.' We again begged and said to him, that what he intended to do 
had better be done at once, for as long as God continued His grace 
we would never change our faith. He then ordered his men to take 
us into custody. 

" While on the way to the prison I raised my heart in praise and 
adoration to the Lord Jesus, for giving us grace to stand firm and to 
acknowledge Him before the world. When we reached the place of 
our imprisonment, which was a part of the Serai, where travellers 
put up for the night and where his soldiers were quartered, we 
found there a European family and some native Christians. We felt 
extremely sorry at seeing them in the same difficulty with ourselves. 
After conversing together, and relating each other's distress, I asked 
them to join us in prayer, to which they readily consented. While 
we knelt down and prayed, one of the guards came, and, giving me a 
kick on the back, ordered me either to pray after the Mohammedan 
form or to hold my tongue. 

"The next day, Ensign Cheek, an officer of the late 6th N. I., 
was brought in as a prisoner. He was so severely wounded that he 
was scarcely able to stand on his legs, but was on the point of faint- 
ing. I made some gruel of the suttoo (flour) and-goor (sugar) which 
we brought with us, and some of which was still left, and gave him 
to drink ; also a potful of water. Drinking this, he felt refreshed, 
and opened his eyes. Seeing me, a fellow-prisoner and minister of 
the gospel, he related the history of his sufferings, and asked me, if I 
escaped in safety, to write to his mother in England, and to his aunt 
at Bancoorah ; which I have since done. As the poor man was 
unable to lie down on the bare hard ground, for that was all that was 
allotted to us, I begged the darogah (constable) to give him a 
charpoy (truckle-bed). With great difficulty he consented to supply 
one ; and that was a broken one. Finding me so kindly disposed to 
poor Cheek, the darogah fastened my feet in the stocks, and thus 
caused a separation, not only from him, but also from my poor family. 
While this was going on, a large body of armed men fell upon me, 
holding forth the promise of immediate release if I became a Moham- 
medan. At that time Ensign Cheek cried with a loud voice, and 



GREAT BRITAIN'S ATTEMPT 141 

said, ' Padre, padre, be firm ; do not give way.' My poor wife, not 
willing to be separated, was dragged away by her hair, and received a 
severe wound in her forehead. The third day, the day appointed for 
our final execution, now came, and we expected every moment to be 
sent for to finish our earthly course ; but the Moulavi did not do so. 
Every ten or fifteen minutes some one of his people would come and 
try to convert us, threatening, in case of refusal, to cut off our noses. 
It appeared that the cutting off of noses was a favourite pastime with 
them. 

' ' On the sixth day the Moulavi himself came over into the prison, 
and inquired where the padre prisoner was. "When I was pointed 
out, he asked me if I was comfortable. My answer was, ' How can I 
be comfortable, whilst my feet are fastened in the stocks ? however, I 
am not sorry, because such has been the will of my heavenly Father.' 
I then asked him, ' How he could be so cruel as not to allow a drop 
of milk to a poor innocent baby ? ' for our little one lived principally 
upon water those six days. The same day, the European and Sikh 
soldiers came out under Lieutenant Brasyer, and after a desperate 
fight, completely routed the enemy. Several dead and wounded were 
brought where we were, as that was his headquarters. The sight of 
these convinced us that the enemies would take to their heels. They 
gradually began to disperse, and by the following morning not one 
remained. "We then broke the stocks, liberated ourselves, and came 
into the fort to our friends, who were rejoiced to see us once more in 
the land of the living. Ensign Cheek died the same day after 
reaching the fort. His wounds were so severe and so numerous, that 
it was a wonder how he lived so many days, without any food or even a 
sufficient quantity of water to quench his burning thirst. It must be 
a great consolation to his friends to hear that he died in the Fort and 
received Christian burial. I had not sufficient conversation with 
him to know the real state of his mind ; but the few words he 
expressed, at the time when the villains fastened my feet in the 
stocks, led me to believe that he died a Christian, and is now in the 
enjoyment of everlasting rest in heaven. 

" Other dear English and native Christians were in similar dangers 
and trials, but many if not all were massacred ; yet we are still in the 
land of the living. The manifestation of God's grace to us at the 
time we needed it most was infinite. It was nothing but His grace 
alone that kept us firm. The enemy tried his utmost to throw us 
down. He put forth, on the one hand, all the worldly inducements a 
person can conceive, if we renounced our faith ; on the other hand, 
he brought before us a sure death, with all the cruelties a barbarous 
man could think of, if we did not become Mohammedans. But 



142 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

thank God, we chose the latter. The sweet words of our blessed 
Saviour, which are recorded in the 18th, 19th, and 20th verses of the 
10th chapter of St. Matthew, were strikingly fulfilled in our case : 
' And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for 
a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver 
you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak : for it shall be 
given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye 
that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.' 
When the Moulavi failed by arguments, threats, etc., in bringiug me 
to renounce my faith, he appealed to my wife ; but she too, thank 
God, was ready to give up her life rather than become a follower of the 
false prophet. When she saw the Moulavi was in a great rage, and 
was ready to order us to be tortured, by taking off our noses or ears, 
she began to instruct the twin boys — 'You, my children, will be 
taken and kept as slaves, while we shall be killed ; but remember my 
last words, do not forget to say your prayers both morning and 
evening, and as soon as you see the English power re-established, 
which will be before long, fly over to them, and relate to them every- 
thing that has befallen us.' 'For He said, Surely they are My 
people, children that will not lie : so He was their Saviour. In all 
their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved 
them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them' (Isa. 
lxiii. 8, 9)." 

When by 1858 the campaigns and sieges of Havelock 
and Outram, Nicholson and Baird Smith, Colin Campbell 
and Hugh Rose had restored order in the valleys of the 
Jumna and the Upper Ganges and in Central India, the 
Christians of Great Britain and America were touched 
with their Lord's Spirit when He said of His murderers, 
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." 
The contemporary literature of those years, letters, 
journals, and biographies, from the Prince Consort's Life 
to the columns of the daily newspapers, remind the 
reader of " the great cry ... for there was not a house 
where there was not one dead," as mail after mail carried 
the news of cruel massacre and bloody conflict. The East 
India Company's government of India was passing — pass- 
ing away — through the fire. The British Empire of India 
thus brought to the birth, was being baptized in blood. 
Had not the time begun to come to the millions of India, 
of which the Jewish seer spoke while yet in 732 B.C. 



great Britain's attempt 143 

their Aryan fathers were descending on its Punjab plains, 
and ours were savages in the woods of the melancholy 
West 1 — " The people that walked in darkness have seen a great 
light. . . . For all the armour of the armed man in the tumult, 
and the garments rolled in blood, shall even he for burning, for 
fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given ; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. . . . Of 
the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no 
end." x The history of Christian India began in the year 
1858; all before was for that a preparation. India, too, 
is to receive the Messiah, not in name only — as its early 
converts rejoice to do, so proclaiming themselves His slaves 
and no longer Mohammed's or Shiva's — but in power and 
with righteousness for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts 
shall perform this. 

The Churches and Societies of England and Wales, of 
Scotland and Ireland, of the United States of America 
and Canada, even of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, 
confessed with shame how little they had done for the 
only part of the continent of Asia where every door was 
open, where toleration was complete, where even the con- 
vert from Islam was protected. While the older organisa- 
tions showed fresh life, new and catholic agencies were 
established, notably that which is now termed the Christian 
Literature Society for India, founded as a loving memorial 
of forgiveness, to propagate Christian literature and train 
native Christian teachers. Duff directed the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of America to the vast districts of 
Oudh and Eohilkhund, until the Mutiny uncared for. 
Wilson, who had sent the Irish Presbyterian Church 
to the native states of Kathiawar and North Bombay, 
now despatched Dr. Shoolbred and the missionaries of the 
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland — till that time 
confined to the negroes — to the vast group of native 
states, Mohammedan and Hindu, with aboriginal tribes, 
which form Eajpootana. The Moravian Unity of the 
Brethren, the Society of Friends, the Original Secession 

1 Isaiah ix. 2, 5, G, 7 (revised version). See "The Book of Isaiah" 
in The Expositor's Bible, voL i. chapter vii. 



144 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Canada, 
many an isolated or independent mission seeking to do 
simply on a smaller scale the will of God towards the 
people of India, settled in British districts and native 
states before neglected. As the Eastern Empire of Great 
Britain extended, through the second Afghan and Burmese 
Wars, the evangelical missionary followed the British flag 
which, in some cases on the Punjab frontier, only military 
force had kept him from preceding in his zeal to proclaim 
the gospel of peace to the regions beyond. The medical 
missionary, Dr. Downes, was brought back from Kafristan ; 
the pilgrim missionary of the Punjab, Maxwell Gordon, 
died as a volunteer chaplain outside the gates of Kandahar. 
We shall see how the missionaries of Eeformed Christen- 
dom to the three hundred millions of Southern Asia under 
British protection have increased fourfold in the last 
forty years. Yet how miserably small is their number 
— seventeen hundred — at the opening of the second 
century of India's evangelisation ! But from Buddhist 
Mandalay on the far north-east, where Britain marches 
with China, right west for two thousand miles to Moham- 
medan Quetta between Afghanistan and Persia, and from 
that lofty base-line down on either side of the great 
Hindu Peninsula to Cape Comorin, the land has been for 
the first time taken possession of for Jesus Christ, and 
only the little faith of every Christian delays the coming 
conversion of India. 



YII 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 

" Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper 
concerning you; or our brethren, they are the messengers of the churches, 
and the glory of Christ." — 2 Cor. viii. 23. 

The foreign politics of the United States of America 
are Foreign Missions. Starting into national life, free alike 
from the ecclesiastical bonds, the feudal institutions, and 
the political interests of Europe, but possessing the full 
heritage of British history, literature, and character, the 
Americans were from the first prepared to become the 
chief messengers of Christ to the human race. In four 
hundred years they have, by Christian colonisation and 
home missions, evangelised their own continent from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, bringing into the Church 
the remnant of the Eed Indian tribes, and giving to 
Christendom its " richest acquisition " in sixty-five millions 
of Christian citizens, whom every year increases in num- 
ber and influence. In the whole development of mankind 
during six thousand years there has been only one people 
and one land ready made, as it were, to be itself free, and 
to all beside the apostle of liberty in its highest form — 
the freedom which is in Christ Jesus. 

The first duty of the Christians who sought liberty of 
conscience and the profits of commerce at Manhattan 
Island, Plymouth Eock, and the various colonies, was to 
the natives. The Dutch West India Company, attracted 

L 



146 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

by the furs of the New World, as their East India Company 
had been a quarter of a century before by the pepper of 
Malabar and the spices of Malaysia, received its charter in 
1621. 1 Eight years after Jonas Michaelius organised the 
first reformed congregation on the continent of North 
America. In his letter " from the island of Manhatas, in 
New Netherland, this eleventh August, Anno 1628," 
he pictures the " entirely savage and wild " character and 
customs of the Red Indians, and arrives at this conclusion, 
" Let us, then, . . . begin with the children who are still 
young." He would instruct them " not only to speak, read, 
and write in our language, but also especially in the funda- 
mentals of our Christian religion. . . . But they must 
speak their native tongue ... as being evidently a prin- 
cipal means of spreading the knowledge of religion through 
the whole nation. In the meantime it must not be forgotten 
to pray to the end with ardent and continual prayers for His 
blessing. . . . May God have mercy upon them finally that 
the fulness of the heathen may be gradually accomplished." 
In the fifty-five years during which the Dutch Com- 
pany held the territory which they named New Nether- 
lands, from the Connecticut River to the Delaware, 
many pastors preached the gospel to the red man. But 
the only name beside that of the good Michaelius, who 
returned to Holland in 1633, is that of Yan Mekelenburg, 
better known in its Hellenized form, Megapolensis. In 
] 643 he began near the present city of Albany his mission 
to the Mohawks, whose language he spoke with eloquence, 
and he received many of them into the fellowship of the 
Church. He used his influence with the red tribes to save 
more than one Jesuit from torture and death. He was 
the counsellor who advised the surrender to the English 
in 1664 to prevent effusion of blood — that decisive act 
which proved a turning-point in history. 2 

1 See Bryce's American Commonwealth, vol. iii. p. 497, for a view 
of the religious superiority of America, which, however, does not 
mention the foreign missionary aspect, but generalises "works of 
active beneficence. " 

2 Joannes Megapolensis thereafter returned to Holland, with his 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 147 

John Robinson, from his refuge at Leyden, had offered 
to take four hundred Puritan families to the New Nether- 
lands, but the Pilgrim Fathers landed at New England in 
1620. If trade, rather than freedom to worship God 
which they had secured for themselves and others, was the 
first object of the Dutch settlements, the Puritans who 
found a home at Leyden around the cultured and devoted 
Robinson, were missionaries. They took back with them 
Squanto, the only survivor of the twenty Indians whom 
Hunt had six years before perfidiously carried to Spain, 
whence he found his way to London. Then it was that 
our forefathers used to sing a missionary hymn with these 
words, 

Dark America convert, 
And every pagan land. 

In 1631 the great missionary of the Puritans, John Eliot, 
landed at Boston, a year after the foundation of the city, 
and became minister of its Roxbury suburb. He learned 
the Mohican language; in 1660 he formed his converts 
into a Church at Natick on the Charles River, and the year 
after began to print at Cambridge his translation of the 
Bible and other works. The illustrious Harvard Univer- 
sity there really originated in his college to train native 
pastors and teachers. 

What Holland began and England continued was fol- 
lowec up by Scotland till the United States started on their 

medical missionary son, Samuel. His account of the Mohawk Indians, 
written in 1644, is translated in Hazard's State Papers. His Dutch 
epitaph is thus translated in Dr. E. T. Corwin's Manual of the Re- 
formed Church in America : — 

" New Netherlander, weep, 

Check not the gushing tear, 
In perfect shape doth sleep 

Megapolensis here. 
New Netherlands great treasure, 

His never-tiring work 
Was day and night to pray, 

And zeal in the Church exert. 
Now let him rest where may, 

He scorn all worldly pleasure." 



148 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

separate career. In 1641 the John Knox of his day, 
Alexander Henderson, and five other Scots ministers, 
signed the petition of William Castell, " parson of Cour- 
teenhall," in Northamptonshire, which, with the " Eliot 
Tracts," led Cromwell and the Long Parliament to create 
the still- existing Corporation for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in New England. In 1645 "The Directory for 
the Publick Worship of God," adopted by the General 
Assembly, instructs ministers and people " to pray for the 
propagation of the gospel and kingdom of Christ to all 
nations." Yet, like all other Confessions of Faith and 
Catechisms, those of the Westminster Assembly do not 
allude to the Church's duty to heathen, Mohammedans, 
and Jews. But in 1672 there appeared one of the least 
known, though most excellent, works of Dr. John Owen, 
his "Discourse concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace 
and Unity," x in which he more fully states and enforces 
the duty of Christendom " towards the infidel, pagan, and 
Mohammedan world, Jews and Gentiles." 

The first attempt of Scotland, as such, to send mission- 
aries to the heathen was in 1699 and 1700, when two 
successive General Assemblies enjoined the ministers who 
formed part of the unhappy Darien expedition to labour 
among the natives of America. " The Lord, we hope, 
will yet honour you, and this Church from which you are 
sent, to carry his name among the heathen." Michael 
Shields, friend of Ren wick, the last Scottish martyr, was 
one of these ministers, and may be called the first foreign 
missionary from Scotland, after the Scoto-Irish. " Whether 
he died in the wilds of Caledonia, on the sea, in Jamaica, 
or at Charleston bar in Carolina, we know not, but he 
never returned," is the record of the editor of his Faith- 
ful Contendings Displayed. With this the action of the 
Church of Scotland, as a Church, ceased till 1825, and its 
godly members joined with others in missionary societies. 

In 1701, some private gentlemen who used to meet in 
Edinburgh " for reformation of manners, reflecting on the 

1 See pp. 71-73 of vol. xv. of his Works, edited by Rev. Dr. W. 
H. Goold, 1851. 



United states of America's co-operation 149 

ignorance, atheism, popery, and impiety that did so much 
abound in the Highlands and Isles of Scotland, did justly 
reckon that they flowed in a great measure from want of 
suitable means of instruction," whence the foundation of the 
Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. 
In 1706 they applied to the General Assembly for aid, 
and received a national collection. In 1709 they obtained 
a charter, and 82 leading Presbyterians were chosen 
members. To this society Dr. Daniel Williams, founder 
of the Williams Library of London, left several legacies 
for foreign missions, among them an estate yielding £50 
a year, to be paid " a twelvemonth after the Society have 
actually sent three missionaries to foreign parts." Accord- 
ingly, in 1741, John Sargent was sent to the Eed Indians 
on the Housatonic ; in 1742, Azariah Horton to the same 
on Long Island; in 1743, David Brainerd to the same on 
Delaware and Susquehannah ; in 1748 John succeeded 
David Brainerd ; — all through the Synod of New York, 
who, in 1751, enjoined "all their members to appoint a 
collection in their several congregations once every year " 
— their beginning of foreign missions. In 1757 the 
Scottish Society bought land in South New Jersey, called 
the Brotherston tract, for an Indian reserve. 

In 1774 the Synod of New York asked the Society to 
send two natives of Africa who had been converted to 
Christ "on a mission to propagate Christianity in their 
native country." The negroes were trained in the college 
of New Jersey for the coast of Guinea. The war of the 
American Eevolution prevented this. In 1771 the first 
Bed Indian minister who visited Great Britain, Samson 
Occom, raised £10,000 for the Indian school of Mr. 
Wheelock of Lebanon, Connecticut, among the Oneida 
Indians. His visit caused great interest. Of the above 
sum £2000 was raised in Scotland, and invested by the 
Scottish Society at 5 per cent. The Foreign Mission 
funds seem to be spent by this Society,' now reorganised, on 
the Blantyre Mission of the Established Church of Scotland 
in East Central Africa. 

In 1744, under the influence of Whitefield and the 



150 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

revivals, several ministers in the west of Scotland united 
to form that Prayer Concert "that our God's kingdom 
may come," which, as commended by Jonathan Edwards 
in New England, prepared William Carey and his contem- 
poraries for the formation of the first English Missionary 
Society in 1792. Following that came the London 
Missionary Society, now preparing to hold its centenary. 

Members of the various Presbyterian Churches in the 
United States, encouraged by the success of the movement 
in London, and not then ready any more than the Church 
of Scotland to use the Church as a missionary organisa- 
tion, founded in 1796 the New York Missionary Society, 
which in 1818 became merged in the United Foreign 
Missionary Society, composed of the Presbyterian, Ee- 
formed Dutch, and Associate Reformed Churches. The 
object, no longer confined to the Indians of North 
America, covered "Mexico, South America, and other 
portions of the heathen and anti christian world." Presi- 
dent Monroe L used the new society as the State almoner 
for the civilisation of the Indians. The work was practi- 
cally confined to what is now happily regarded as a Home 
Mission of the American Churches, when it was trans- 
ferred to the American Board for Foreign Missions. The 
Synod of Pittsburgh, which had always been foremost in 
missionary zeal, in 1831 formed the Western Missionary 
Society, which became merged six years after in the great 
Board of the Presbyterian Church. This society it was 
which first led the Presbyterians of America to seek the 
conversion of India, while caring for the negroes of what is 
now Liberia, and the first to look " eventually " to Central 
Africa as a principal field of its intended operations. 

In May 1834 John C. Lowrie and William Eeed sailed 
in the " Star " from Philadelphia, and in due time the 
former founded the famous Lodiana Mission. It was a 
momentous step, full of hope for the future of India and 
Central Asia. John Lowrie, followed by John Newton, 
first opened up to the gospel of Christ the Punjab, its 

1 See Dr. Ashbel Green's Historical Sketch of Domestic and Foreign 
Missions in the Presbyterian CJiurch, U.S.A. Philadelphia, 1838. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 151 

Siklis and Mohammedans. The Free Church of Scotland 
had been urged to open a mission at Lahore when it 
became a British capital, but Dr. Duff followed the more 
catholic course of giving the American Mission such 
ordained converts as Gopinath Nundy and Goluk Nath, 
of the latter of whom he wrote in 1848 : — "Through him 
our Institution is diffusing the light of the gospel among 
the warlike Sikhs, who so lately contested the sovereignty 
of India with Britain." The successors of these pioneers 
have proved worthy of them in the prayerful zeal and the 
far-seeing energy with which they have followed up the 
wars and annexations of the British Government, and in the 
apostolic charity with which they have invited and co- 
operated with the Anglicans of the Church Missionary 
Society. Associated with Dr. Lowrie was the Rev. James 
R. Campbell of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of 
America. Allahabad, and the region of North India be- 
tween that and the frontier at Peshawur, became remarkable 
for the labours of saints and scholars like Owen and Walsh, 
Janvier and Loewenthal, Morrison and Forman. 

We have not yet named the greatest of all American 
missionaries, that we might trace the course of the Presby- 
terian occupation of the Punjab and Hindustan. Adoniram 
Judson is surpassed by no missionary since the apostle 
Paul in self-devotion and scholarship, in labours and perils, 
in saintliness and humility, in the result of his toils on the 
future of an empire and its multitudinous peoples. He 
took possession of Burma for Christ when only a strip of 
its coast had become the nucleus of the eastern half of the 
British Empire of India ; and he inspired his native 
country to found two great missionary societies. 

Samuel John Mills, born in the year of the independ- 
ence of his country, and' consecrated by his mother to the 
service of God as a missionary, when at Williams' College, 
Massachusetts, gathered together his fellow-students behind 
a haystack daily to pray for self-surrender to the Lord's 
call to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. At Yale 
University he continued the propaganda. At the Theo- 
logical College of Andover he met with Judson. There, 



152 THE CONVERSION OP INDIA 

in 1810, Judson drew up the memorial, signed by himself, 
Mills, Nott, and Newell, asking the General Association 
of Massachusetts "whether they may expect patronage 
and support from a missionary society in this country, or 
must commit themselves to the direction of a European 
society." The result was the formation of the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1812. 
Mills found his career and early death on the west coast 
of Africa. Judson, becoming a Baptist on the voyage to 
India, was sent by William Carey to Burma, with the con- 
sequent establishment of the American Baptist Missionary 
Union in 1814. 

During two of the thirty-seven years of Judson's 
apostolate in Burma, 1844 and 1845, he enjoyed the friend- 
ship and help of the British Commissioner of Tenasserim. 
That was Captain Durand of the Bengal Engineers, a scion 
of the Dukes of Northumberland, who had sailed and been 
shipwrecked along with Dr. Duff off Dassen Island, and 
had been private secretary of the Governor-General, Lord 
Ellenborough. After learning to love Judson as he all his 
life admired Duff, Durand became one of the heroes of the 
first Afghan campaign. The close of the Mutiny saw him 
successively one of the first members of the Council of 
India, foreign secretary, member of the Governor-General's 
Council, and Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, where an 
accident, all too soon for the empire, ended the stainless 
and chivalrous career of the Christian soldier, . Major- 
General Sir Henry Marion Durand, K.C.S.I., C.B. It is 
such a man who wrote the first and noblest, if the briefest, 
biography of Adoniram Judson, 1 and impassioned but 
discriminating sketches of Ann Hasseltine and Sarah 
Judson, whom also he knew. The foe against which 
Judson equipped himself with the panoply of God was 
Buddhism, professed at the present day by seven millions 
out of the eight who occupy the now British province, 
which in its independence he influenced from Moulmein 
to Ava. In the foul prison of that capital he lay for nine- 

1 In the Calcutta Review for 1850, then edited by Dr. Duff. The 
article is reprinted by his son in vol. ii. of Durand 's Life (1883). 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 153 

teen months, in three or five pairs of fetters, that he might 
win the land for Christ, as he did win much of it for 
Christian Britain. This is the first testimony, of the most 
upright soldier - statesman next to Henry Lawrence the 
writer has known, to the missionaries sent by evangelical 
America for the conversion of India : — 

" Are we to suppose truth less powerful than falsehood? Are we 
to despair of her coping with an opponent, which the Hindu. Pan- 
theon and the Brahmanical fallacy trod down into the dust ? We 
must be of very different mettle, and actuated by very different views 
from the Burman apostle, Adoniram Judson, if for a moment so faint- 
hearted a feeling lodge in our breasts. He, from the dawn to the 
close of his eventful career, could contemplate the millions still under 
the yoke of Buddhist error with the hope and the assurance of ultimate 
victory for the cause of truth. Strong in this hope, like a good 
soldier of the Cross, he unfurled his standard on the enemy's ground ; 
and though in the contest it was at times struck down, yet the 
standard-bearer's heart and courage were proof, and the banner 
triumphing in such hands over every struggle, soon rose and floated 
again in the breath of Heaven. We may well say with the Psalmist, 
' How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle ! ' But in this 
instance, though the mighty are fallen, the weapons of war are not 
perished. A champion of the Cross, and a notable one too, has 
indeed, after waging a seven-and-thirty-years' conflict against the 
powers of darkness, fallen at his post ; but he has fallen gloriously, 
leaving a well-furnished armoury to his seconds and successors in the 
fight — weapons sound of temper, sharp of edge, and gleaming brightly 
with the light of Heaven. He was indeed a mighty champion — 
mighty in word — mighty in thought — mighty in suffering— mighty 
in the elasticity of an unconquerable spirit — mighty in the entire 
absence of selfishness, of avarice, of all the meaner passions of the 
unregenerate soul — mighty in the yearning spirit of love and of 
affection — above all, mighty in real humility, in the knowledge and 
confession of the natural evil and corruption of his own heart, in the 
weakness which brings forth strength — mighty in fulfilling the 
apostolic injunction, ' Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the 
Lord, and not unto men ' — mighty in the entire, unreserved devotion 
of means, time, strength, and great intellect to his Master, Christ." 

That eulogy is from the pen of the high official who saw 
its subject at work night and day, and it is within the 
truth. Yet this stern soldier, whose enemies complained 



154 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

of no fault in him, save the severity of his judgments, 
wrote of the three remarkable companions of Judson's life 
and toil : — " To our mind there is no comparison whatever 
between what the missionary has to bear and what his 
wife has to endure in the American Baptist Mission on 
the Tenasserim coast." 

Contrasting the character, methods, and results of the 
work of Judson with that of Xavier, Durand, who was no 
sectary, wrote — 

" The isle of Saurian saw Xavier expire, with In te, Domine, 
speravi ; non confundar in ceternum on his lips. Three centuries 
have passed since this hope was uttered with his dying breath by one 
of the noblest heroes of the Cross. Of his labours which, under any 
aspect, were truly gigantic, what now remains ? Whero are the 
churches which he founded ? We will not ask where are the Scrip- 
tures which he translated, for that he considered neither his duty nor 
his calling ; but where is there anything to indicate that the spoken 
word, the seed sown three centuries ago, struck root, and grew, and 
continues to bear fruit ? His success was sudden, meteor-like, and 
transient, as that of one of earth's conquerors. It was too much 
based upon the gross superstition of his hearers, to which his own 
deep enthusiasm and fanaticism made no vain appeal : — he conquered 
them with their own weapons rather than with the dogmas of his own 
creed. 

" Far different has been the success of the seven-and-thirty years 
of Judson's continuous unflinching labour. His career has not been 
marked by the alleged sudden conversion of tens of thousands of 
idolaters. Princes indeed listened, but did not bow their heads to 
the truths of the gospel. Brilliant success nowhere attended him. 
Yet it may be permitted us to doubt whether Judson has not laid the 
foundation of a fabric, which, instead of vanishing in the course of the 
next three centuries, will, should earth last, grow into the stately 
proportions of an extensive and solid spiritual temple." 

When, in 1820, Judson first surveyed the splendid 
pagodas and extensive ruins of the once famous city of 
Pah-gan where, eight centuries before, the mingled atheism 
and devil-worship of the Buddhists was first disseminated 
by Shen-ah-rah-han, the Christian apostle exclaimed — 

"'"We looked back on the centuries of darkness which are passed. 
"We looked forward, and Christian hope would fain brighten the 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 155 

prospect. Perhaps we stand on the dividing line of the empires of 
darkness and light. shade of Shen-ah-rah-han ! weep over thy 
fallen fanes ; retire from the scenes of thy past greatness ! But thou 
smilest at my feeble voice ; — linger, then, thy little remaining day. 
A voice mightier than mine — a still small voice — will erelong sweep 
away every vestige of thy dominion. The Churches of Jesus will 
soon supplant these idolatrous monuments, and the chanting of the 
devotees of Budh will die away before the Christian hymn of praise." 
"True, Judson," adds Durand, "and those Christian hymns of praise 
will ascend heavenward, either in your own pure rendering of the 
words of the sweet psalmist of Israel, or in the poetical versions and 
original compositions of the talented being, the second partner of 
your labours and trials." 

Before death parted them, and she was laid to rest in the 
green islet of St. Helena, Sarah Judson wrote the lines 
which sent her husband back to the conflict, and which 
thus conclude — 

" Then gird thine armour on, love, 
Nor faint thou by the way — 
Till the Budh shall fall, and Burma's sons 
Shall own Messiah's sway." 

When Judson himself revisited his native land, and was 
about to return to finish his service in Burma, voiceless 
with emotion he wrote at Boston a farewell address which 
should be the priceless heritage of American Christians. 
" At one moment the lapse of thirty-four years is anni- 
hilated ; the scenes of 1812 are again present." But where, 
he asked, are " my early missionary associates — Newell, 
and Hall, and Bice, and Richards, and Mills 1 Where are 
the intervening generation who moved among the dark 
scenes of Rangoon, and Ava, and Tavoy? With what 
words shall I address those who have taken their places — 
the successors of the venerated and beloved — of the 
generation of 1819?" — 

" In that year American Christians pledged themselves to the 
work of evangelizing the world. They had but little to rest on, 
except the command and promise of God. The attempts then made 
by British Christians had not been attended with so much success as 
to establish the practicability, or vindicate the wisdom, of missionary 



156 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

enterprise. For many years the work advanced but slowly. One 
denomination after another embarked in the undertaking, and now 
American missionaries are seen in almost every land and every clime. 
Many languages have been acquired ; many translations of the Bible 
have been made ; the gospel has been extensively preached ; and 
Churches have been established, containing thousands of sincere in- 
telligent converts. The obligation, therefore, on the present generation 
to redeem the pledge given by their fathers is greatly enhanced. And 
it is an animating consideration that, with the enhancement of the 
obligation, the encouragements to persevere in the work, and to make 
still greater efforts, are increasing from year to year. Judging from 
the past, what may we rationally expect during the lapse of another 
thirty or forty years ? Look forward with the eye of faith. See the 
missionary spirit universally diffused, and in active operation through- 
out this country — every Church sustaining, not only its own minister, 
but, through some general organization, its own missionary in a 
foreign land. See the Bible faithfully translated into all languages — 
the rays of the lamp of Heaven transmitted through every medium, 
and illuminating all lands. See the Sabbath spreading its holy calm 
over the face of the earth — the Churches of Zion assembling, and the 
praises of Jesus resounding from shore to shore ; and though the great 
majority may still remain, as now in this Christian country, ' without 
hope and without God in this world,' yet the barriers in the way of 
the descent and operations of the Holy Spirit removed, so that 
revivals of religion become more constant and more powerful. 

"The world is yet in its infancy. The gracious designs of God 
are yet hardly developed. ' Glorious things are spoken of Zion, the 
city of our God. ' " 

The writer of that prayer-prophecy broke forth — "I 
wish with my own voice to praise God for the proofs which 
He has given of His interest in missions. Pray for me and 
my associates and the missionary work." What a rebuke 
is this to the little faith of the Churches at the close of 
the first missionary century ! But the answer has assuredly 
come to that longing aspiration in a way that Judson knew 
not, when he declared himself ready to go to Ava again 
and risk his life once more if he could only have an article 
of toleration inserted in the British treaty with the king. 
First Pegu and then all Burma fell under Christian sway, 
and toleration reigned from the Bay of Bengal to the con- 
fines of China and even over Siam. Christian governors 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 157 

succeeded Durand — Arthur Phayre, beloved by ' every 
American in Burma, Sir Rivers Thomson, Sir Charles 
Aitchison, Sir Charles Bernard, and the present provincial 
ruler. The Karens have poured into the Church by 
families and villages; the Burmans follow more slowly. 
But the census revealed 120,768 native Christians in 
Burma three years ago, of whom those under Judson's 
society had increased at the rate of 43 per cent in ten 
years. " One soweth and another reapeth," and both shall 
rejoice in the harvest since, on 27th June 1819, Judson 
wrote in his journal, " Moung Nan, the first Burman 
convert, was baptized." 

When the other early missionaries of the American 
Board, Hall and Nott, were driven from Calcutta in 1812 
they took ship to Bombay, relying on the Christian repu- 
tation of the governor, Sir Evan Nepean. After warning 
them off, the discussions in England on the first charter of 
toleration in 1813 led him to temporise, and they were 
with difficulty permitted to take up the great mission to 
the Marathas of Western India, for whom Carey had just 
prepared his translation of the New Testament, besides 
Grammar and Dictionary. In places like Kalyan, seat of 
a Nestorian bishopric and scene of the martyrdom of four 
Romish Christians, and away inland to Ahmednuggur, the 
missions of the American Board have done a work which 
extorted the praise of the governor, Sir Bartle Frere, 
as it had met with the support of Sir Robert Grant, the 
hymn- writer, and led the present ruler of the Presidency, 
Lord Harris, to publicly declare when last year he opened 
some of the mission buildings : — " I do not think I can 
too prominently say that our gratitude towards this 
American Mission has been piling up and piling up all the 
years of this century." Again, " I take this public oppor- 
tunity of conveying, on behalf of the Government of Bom- 
bay, our most grateful thanks for the assistance the people 
of the United States are rendering in pushing forward the 
cause of education in India. The conjunction of the efforts 
of the two countries out here is a happy augury that their 
joint efforts may be put forth in other directions also." 



158 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

In the older Presidency of Madras the present Governor, 
Lord Wenlock, when opening the Arthur G. Watts 
Memorial of the American Lutheran Mission at Guntoor 
this year, spoke thus from the neutrality point of view : — 
" Our cousins in America are not, as we are, responsible 
for the welfare of a very large number of the human race; 
but seeing our difficulties and knowing how much there is 
to do, they have not hesitated to put their hands into their 
pockets to assist us in doing that which is almost impos- 
sible for any government to achieve unassisted. They go 
out themselves, their wives, and their sisters ; they enter 
into all parts of the country, they spend a very large 
amount of money, and they spend their time and their 
health in promoting the welfare of those who are in no 
way connected with them in an extremely kind and 
generous manner, not only in Kistna district, but in other 
parts of the Presidency. In all districts I find our Ameri- 
can cousins joining with us in improving the system of 
education and in extending it wherever it was wanted. 
To their efforts we owe a very great deal. It must be 
recognised that their great object is the advancement of the 
Christian religion." 

In the North- Western Provinces, in Lucknow, the late 
Dr. Badley founded the Christian College of the American 
Episcopal Methodists on a site granted by the State near 
the sacred mound of the . Residency, which is for ever 
associated with memories of the double siege,, and of 
Henry Lawrence's death. The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir 
Auckland Colvin, as his last public act, opened the build- 
ing, declaring that ever since his arrival in India he had 
witnessed with much satisfaction the aid given by mis- 
sionaries to the British Government in educational and 
philanthropic enterprises. He eulogised the Episcopal 
Methodist missionaries, whom Dr. Duff invited to take 
up the evangelisation of Oudh just before the Mutiny of 
1857, for their consistent and large-hearted policy and 
their widely beneficent plan for the improvement of all 
classes of the people. He pointed with satisfaction to the 
union of the American and the British flags which he saw 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 159 

around the new hall. The proceedings finished with the 
national anthem. 

In the most populous of all the provinces of India, 
Bengal, with its seventy millions of human beings, the 
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Charles Elliot, made at the 
Himalaya sanatorium of Darjeeling a statement which marks 
the advance in a wise toleration secured by British rule in 
the East, when reporting for the first time that the number 
of Christians in his jurisdiction had increased from 122,000 
to 189,000 in the ten years ending 1891. He described 
missionaries of all Churches as forming " an unrecognised 
and unofficial branch of the great movement which alone 
justifies British rule in Southern Asia. The officers of 
Government have to treat all alike in religious matters, 
and to show no more consideration for one faith than for 
another, though they know right well that the only hope 
for the true development and elevation of the peoples lies 
in the evangelisation of India. Only the missionaries are 
carrying on that work, filling up what is deficient in the 
efforts of the Government." 

The revival of foreign missionary enthusiasm created 
by the visit of Judson was renewed by that of Duff in 
the year 1854. The Scots missionary and orator had 
completed the reorganisation of the missionary adminis- 
tration of his own Church, and was about to return to 
Bengal for the last time, when Mr. George H. Stuart in- 
duced him to spend four months in America. Beginning 
with a vast meeting in Philadelphia, he spent the weeks 
from February to May in a campaign which extended from 
Louisville and St. Louis north to Chicago and Canada, 
and closed with New York. Then in the perfection of 
his powers, still under fifty years of age, the greatest 
missionary statesman Christendom has seen, whether as 
organiser, teacher, or orator, produced an effect on the 
Churches which continues to this hour. All was gathered 
up and directed to a practical end in the first Union 
Missionary Convention of America, fruitful parent of many 
ecumenical assemblies in the subsequent forty years. On 
the roll of the Convention are found the names of between 



160 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

two and three hundred representatives of the Evangelical 
Churches and Missions, notably those of the Eeformed 
(Dutch) Church. The five resolutions passed, after frank 
and harmonious conference, embody the principles of the 
missions which are evangelising India and the non-Chris- 
tian world, as these had not been stated since in 1805 Carey, 
Marshman, and Ward drew up the covenant of Serampore. 1 
On reporting the proceedings to his own Church, Duff 
declared, " When these men of all ages and denominations 
came together and began to speak of Christ's work — the 
work of the evangelisation of the nations — it was astonishing 
what a spirit of love sprang forth into vivid manifestation. 
One venerable man said, ' It is the dawning of the millen- 
nium.' May that spirit speedily pervade the entire 
ecclesiastical firmament of the New World, and reach every 
corner of a sadly divided and distracted old Christendom!" 
Summoning America and Britain alike to form the United 
States of the World — united for its evangelisation — he 
had said to this Convention of 1854, "Let us arise and 
march together as one mighty phalanx to the spiritual 
conquest of the nations." 

At this time evangelical America, through forty-two 
Churches and Societies, is spending a million sterling a year 
on foreign missions of all kinds. Its contribution to the 
conversion of the non- Christian world is a missionary 
battalion of 3500 men and women directing 11,500 native 
helpers, of whom 1250 are ordained, and supervising 
26,000 churches in the mission fields. Of its foreign 
representatives 1250 are ordained missionaries, 250 are 
lay missionaries, and 850 are women, besides missionaries' 
wives, who make up the American force of 3500. These 
are trained and sent forth by the evangelical majority of 
the Christians of the west. The whole Church member- 
ship of the United States numbers twenty-one millions, 
ind the last census reveals their Church property at a value 
Df more than 646 millions of dollars, or 129 million pounds 
sterling. How much of the one million of this given by 

1 See Short History of Missions, page 166 of 3rd edition. Edin- 
burgh, 1890. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 161 

the evangelical Churches for foreign missions goes to India 
does not clearly appear, but these are their organisations 
now at work in India proper, Burma, and Ceylon, side by 
side with those of Great Britain and Ireland. 



UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT 
BRITAIN AND IRELAND 
AND ITS COLONIES. 

Baptist Missionary Society. 1 
,, Zanana Society. 
* Canadian Baptist Telugu Mis- 



UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA. 



* Baptist Missionary Union. 

* Free Baptist Missionary Society. 



* London Missionary Society. 

Church Missionary Society. 

,, Zanana Society. 
Propagation of the Gospel Society. 
, , Ladies' Association. 

Oxford Mission. 
Cambridge Mission. 

* Society of St. John the Baptist. 
Dent Mission. 

Local Church of England. 

Free Church of Scotland. 

,, Woman's Society. 

Established Church of Scotland. 

,, Ladies' Association. 

* United Presbyterian Church of 

Scotland. 

* Presbyterian Church of England. 

* Welsh Calvinistic Mission. 

* Presbyterian Church of Ireland. 

* Canadian Presbyterian Church. 
Original Secession Church of 

Scotland. 



Board of Commissioners 
Foreign Missions. 



for 



Presbyterian Church (North). 
United Presbyterian Church. 
Reformed (Dutch) Church. 
Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
German Evangelical Missionary 
Society in the United States. 



1 Including Carey's Society of 1792, and the General Baptist Society 
founded by Pike in 1816, happily amalgamated before the Centenary 
of the former. 

* These Societies report woman missionaries, but not separate 
organisations for woman's work. 



162 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT UNITED STATES OF 

BRITAIN AND IRELAND AMERICA. 

AND ITS COLONIES. 

* Wesleyan Missionary Society. Episcopal Methodist Church. 

,, Woman's Society. 

Free Methodists. 

Society of Friends. American Evangelical Lutheran. 

Bengal Evangelical Mission. ,, Lutheran Church Board. 

Faith Mission (Berar). 

Kurku Mission (Central Pro- 



Chinsurah Zanana Mission. American Women's Union Zan- 

Society for Promoting Female ana Mission. 

Education in the East. American Episcopal Mission 

Zanana Bible and Medical Mis- (Calcutta). 



OTHERS. 

Indian Home Mission. 
Bethel Santal Mission. 
Strict Baptist Mission. 
Australian Baptist Missions. 
Foreign Christian Mission. 
East Bengal Aborigines' Mission. 

Basel German Evangelical Mission. 
Danish Lutheran Missionary Society 
German Evangelical Lutheran (Gossner's). 
Hermannsburg (Hanover) Mission. 
Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission. 
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission. 
Episcopal Moravians or United Brethren. 

Christo Somaj (Calcutta). 
Independent Mission (Calcutta). 
Christian Disciples (Calcutta). 
Private Mission (Jamtara, Santalia). 

* This Society reports woman missionaries, but not a separate organ- 
isation for woman's work. 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 163 

These sixty-four organisations, great and small, are 
reported on as working in India, Burma, and Ceylon, at 
the end of the year 1890, by the Calcutta Missionary 
Conference, which has taken a detailed census of the Pro- 
testant Missions there in the five years 1851, 1861, 1871, 
1881, and 1890. 1 Of the sixty-four the United States of 
America conduct eighteen, and Germany and other 
European and isolated agencies, seventeen. Except by one 
lady in Calcutta the Episcopal Church of America has not 
yet entered on the evangelisation of India. 

The greatest of all the blessings which the evangelical 
Churches of America have conferred on the people of 
British India is that of healing their sick women, and thus 
powerfully showing the practically imprisoned inmates of 
the zanana and hareem, and the multitudes of widows so 
many of whom have never been wives, that to them the 
kingdom of God has come. Till recently Great Britain 
could not thus do what the liberal educational system of 
the United States had long enabled woman medical mis- 
sionaries to begin. If Carey's colleague, Dr. Thomas, was 
the first medical missionary to the East in 1790, 2 and in 
1798 the Dutch Dr. Vanderkemp, an Edinburgh student, 
began his mission to the Hottentots and Kafirs which 
extorted the admiration of Henry Martyn, it was Dr. 
Duff's educational system which in 1834 really founded 
medical missions in India. 3 He first induced his students, 
Bengali men and now women, to take a full medical 
qualification then in Great Britain and now in the 
Indian Universities, and started on their beneficent action 
the great hospitals and dispensaries of the Government of 
India. But long opposed by the teaching and licensing 
bodies in the United Kingdom, Christian women, yearning 
to relieve the misery, spiritual and bodily, of the millions 
of their sisters in the East, by teaching them of Christ the 

1 See the comparative results in the Statistical Tables, 1890, pub- 
lished at Calcutta by the Baptist Mission Press in 1892. 

2 In 1740 the Moravian Brethren sent five medical men to Persia, 
but unsuccessfully. 

3 See his Life, vol. i. , chapter 8. 



164 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

healer, were driven to America or Switzerland for train- 
ing. Of the women missionaries sent out by America, no 
nobler has lived and died for the women and children of 
India than Mary Seelye, M.D. She worked alone in the 
dense population of Calcutta, and the gigantic work killed 
her in the midst of her success. The same fate befell other 
solitary and unaided workers — establishing the lesson that 
it is more true of women than of men, and more true of 
medical than of other missionaries, that they must go forth 
at least two and two. Now no evangelical mission in India 
is complete without those skilled and spiritual ministrants 
to the secluded half of the population of India, whom the 
example of America has led the medical schools of Great 
Britain and India itself to train and send forth to the 
highest calling that women can follow. 

The story of one family and one mission will best illus- 
trate the nature and the fruit of the co-operation of the 
Christians of America with those of the United Kingdom 
in the conversion of India. The family are the Scudders 
of four generations ; the mission is that of the Eeformed 
(Dutch) Church to Arcot in South India. 

Five years before the death of Schwartz, or on 3rd 
September 1793, just a century ago, John Scudder was 
born at Freehold, New Jersey, and became one of the 
first physicians in New York. After a spiritual conflict 
with doubt of extraordinary intensity he found peace and 
power, and became one of the most active members of the 
Presbyterian Church in the city. While waiting in the 
anteroom of a lady patient, he took up a paper on " The 
Conversion of the World, or the Claims of Six Hundred 
Millions, and the Ability and Duty of the Churches 
respecting them." He had been moved by the self-sur- 
render of Judson and the other young men of his own age 
ten years before, but had put the call from him. Now he at 
once offered himself to the American Board. In 1819 he 
sailed from Boston to Ceylon, where he was ordained and 
joined Newell; in 1836 he made the city of Madras the 
centre of his Tamil work, and he died when on sick leave 
at Wynberg, Cape Colony, in 1855. No stronger, more 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 165 

versatile, or more successful missionary pioneer ever 
evangelised a people as healer, preacher, teacher, and 
translator, in season and out of season. He lived in 
praying and working till, although he knew it not, he 
realised his ambition even in this world, " to be one of the 
inner circle around Jesus." Such a man had sons and 
children's children like himself to the fourth generation. 1 
There was not a town in South-Eastern India which had 
not heard the gospel of Christ from his lips. There was 
not a village to which the publications of his Tamil press 
had not penetrated, while his descendants worked by 
his side and took up his mantle. His son, Silas, born in 
Ceylon in 1833, was, like them all, the subject of his 
father's daily prayer — " Make him a Christian and make 
him a missionary." The boy resisted, determined to make 
a fortune as a physician in New York, where he founded 
the Women's Hospital. But prayer prevailed, and he went 
out as a medical missionary to Arcot, where the Governor 
of Madras, Lord Napier and Ettrick, took Mr. Seward and 
many a visitor to see one of the most remarkable insti 
tutions under his administration. Like so many of the 
best men and women of all callings in India, he died of 
overwork. 

It was in 1850 that John Scudder's eldest son, Henry 
Martyn Scudder, M.D., born in Ceylon in 1822, made a 
tour from Madras city in the neighbouring districts of 
Arcot. There, where Ziegenbalg had opened a school in 
1716, where Sartorius ended his toils, and Kiernander 
taught before he went to Calcutta, and Schwartz landed in 
1750, while Jean de Britto had carried on an offshoot of 
the Jesuit mission of Eobert de Nobilibus, Scudder found a 
million and a half of human beings who had never heard 
the name of Jesus Christ. He sought and obtained per- 
mission to make the centre of a new mission in the 
northern district the city of Arcot, immortalised in history 
as the capital of the Nawabs of the Karnatic, captured 
and defended by Clive, as Orme and Macaulay so vividly 

1 See the early list in Dr. Corwin's Manual of the Reformed CJiurch 
in America (1879), 3rd edition. 



166 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

describe. Following the slow and sure method of the 
Scottish and American Presbyterians, Henry Martyn 
Scudder, his colleagues and successors, "never baptize 
any one, be his proficiency in knowledge ever so great, 
unless there is reason to believe that he is the subject of 
regeneration, and fit to enter the Church." 1 In that light 
this latest review of forty years' mission work in North 
Arcot should be read : 2 — 

" It is a little more than forty years since Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn 
Scudder first pitched his tent in the North Arcot district, and laid 
the foundation of this mission. Forty years is but a brief cycle 
in a land so hoary with age as India, but we doubt whether any 
previous four decades have witnessed such stupendous changes. The 
material development of the district has been remarkable. Railways 
now penetrate the very heart of our mission field. Electric wires 
connect all our mission stations. Macadamised roads traverse the 
country in every direction. Magnificent bridges span the various 
rivers. Hospitals and dispensaries are established in all important 
centres. Houses of brick and tile take the place of those of mud and 
thatch in our towns. Clean streets and whitewashed walls show the 
observance of sanitary laws. 

"Nor has the intellectual progress of the people been less marked. 
It is hard to believe, as one sees the vast number of schools that now 
exist of all grades, the growing number of natives who know English, 
the increasing circulation of papers and magazines, that all this has 
come about within the last forty years. And yet such is the fact. 
The social and moral changes have likewise been great. Superstitious 
customs that have been more powerful than law are gradually dis- 
appearing ; Christian ideas on all subjects are spreading ; the native 
mind is being formed on a new model. Natives of all castes travel 
freely by rail, attend the same school, and even read from the same 
book. Sudras contend with Brahmans for the highest government 
posts. 

" Toward the accomplishment of these results our missionaries have 
contributed no small share. Besides preaching the gospel they have 
identified themselves with nearly every enterprise that has had for its 
object the amelioration of the people. They have been foremost in 

1 Dr. E. C. Scudder's paper, read to the Allahabad Missionary 
Conference of 1871. 

2 Sixty -First Annual Report of the Board of Missions of the Reformed 
Church in America, June 1893. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CO-OPERATION 167 

the extension of medical work. They were the pioneers of female 
education. They have encouraged and helped to promote sanitary 
reform. They have been the ready friend of the poor and oppressed. 

"But what is there to show in the way of direct results? In 
1861, ten years after he had entered the district, the founder of the 
mission was permitted to begin the annual report as follows : — ' This 
mission, which sprang from a slender shoot, is by the culture of the 
Great Husbandman becoming a tree with boughs and flowers and fruit. 
This day we number nine missionaries, one native pastor, six churches, 
six catechists, four readers, six teachers, and 796 nominal Christians, 
of whom 232 are communicants. See what the Lord has wrought ! 
We gaze upon His stately steppings and wonder and adore. He has 
transcended all our expectations.' But what emotions of joy would 
fill our brother's soul could he visit the mission to-day ! While the 
number of missionaries remains about the same, we are able to report 
eight native pastors, sixty-two catechists, seventy-five readers and 
teachers, twenty-three churches, 124 congregations, 1881 communi- 
cants, 122 schools with 4517 pupils, 1809 of whom are girls, and a 
Christian community of 6504 souls. 

" To free the Hindu from the shackles that Brahmanism has im- 
posed upon him, and build him up so that all his faculties, moral, 
intellectual, and physical, shall receive development, is the work of the 
missionary. It is plain that the first step toward the new life must 
be conversion, but we use the word in no narrow sense. It is a con- 
version from what is false to what is true, from what is degrading to 
what is ennobling, from what is earthly and sensual to what is 
heavenly and spiritual. But while the work starts with conversion, 
it does not end there. That is simply the beginning which is to lead 
up to the true ideal, viz. character, the end of all being — the character 
of Christ, which is the character of God. We are aware that ours is 
no easy task. But we have yet to find any solid work for God that is 
easy. Nor do we expect to realise our hopes in a single generation. 
Neither reason nor revelation warrants us in expecting such a result. 
We are building not simply for the present, but for the future. 

"Although we preach the gospel of peace, the world does not 
at first receive it as such. Every soul won for Christ is a conquest. 
We ask our friends to cultivate with us the grace of patience. It is 
greatly needed in the world to-day, and by no people moro than by 
Americans. We assume that the rate at which we travel and erect 
buildings or make fortunes must have its counterpart in the work of 
missions too, and hence the impatience for immediate results. Listen 
to the weigbty words of one of England's greatest preachers. 'Archi- 
tects and builders adjust their work to the temper of the day, but the 



168 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Eternal "Workman heeds not the varying moods and fashions of His 
creatures, but, in spite of the demand for rapid production, is at this 
hour as slow and as sure in His work as at any past time in history. 
A mission is essentially a work in which man counts for little although 
his active exertion is imperatively necessary. When this is felt, it 
will be felt also that an order, so to describe it, upon a given mission 
for so many converts at least, within such and such a time, is an 
indefensible thing.' " 

Columbus found America when lie was looking for 
India, and lie persisted in the conviction that it was 
India he had found. So let it be ; let us believe that the 
instinct of the great missionary admiral was true, as his 
America is used by the Spirit of God to carry life and 
light and joy to each of the great peoples of British 
India, to the Burmans and Karens of the north-east ; to 
the Hindus, Mohammedans, and Sikhs of the martial 
north and north-west; to the Marathas of the western 
coast and plateau ; to the Telugus of the eastern and 
central districts ; to the Tamils of Arcot and Madura in 
the south ; and to the villages of the depressed peoples 
who are everywhere pressing into the kingdom, from the 
Pariah serfs of Madras to the Choorha peasants of Sialkot. 



vm 

THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION TO INDIA 

" God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For 
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the toorld ; but that 
the world through Him might be saved." — St. John iii. 16, 17. 

What is the India to which, with a patient faith and 
sometimes halting obedience, the Churches of the British 
Empire and of the United States of America are teaching 
Christianity 1 It is the land of three hundred millions 
of Hindus, Buddhists, Mohammedans, and Animists, all 
at variance with each other, and each dissatisfied with 
himself, all " vain in their imaginations and their foolish 
hearts darkened." Because the gospel of Christ is " the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth " 
the missionary preaches that gospel to India as Paul did 
to Eome. There is a school of thinkers, somewhat dis- 
proportionately represented in the civil service of India, 
who loftily patronise the Christian missionary as on the 
same superstitious level with the votary of every religion, 
and declare that " England's prime function in India is at 
present this, to superintend the tranquil elevation of 
the whole moral and intellectual standard." 1 Even the 
positivist, the agnostic, and the eclectic, who believe 
death to end all, admit that the Hindu may be made 

1 Sir Alfred .C. Lyall's Asiatic Studies, Religious and Social, 2nd 
edition, 1884. 



170 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

better by the Christian morality. When Horace Hayman 
Wilson wrote his work on The Religious Sects of the Hindus 
he stored in the Bodleian Library of Oxford his collection 
of authorities as "libri execrandi." When Professor 
Max Miiller published his first volumes of The Sacred 
Books of the East he was constrained to admit their ethical 
defects and even abominations. No one, Christian or 
Comtist, will seriously differ from the apostle Paul in 
his picture of Eoman idolatry and lust, or will refuse to 
accept it as equally true of the Musalmans, polytheists, 
and demonolaters of India. The best that can be said of 
the best of them fills the true Christian with an infinite 
pity and a practical determination to reveal to them " the 
Desire of all nations." 



MEDITATIONS OF A HINDU PRINCE 1 

All the world over, I wonder, in lands that I never have trod, 
Are the people eternally seeking for the signs and steps of a God ? 
Westward across the ocean, and northward ayont the snow, 
Do they all stand gazing, as ever, and what do the wisest know ? 

Here, in this mystical India, the deities hover and swarm 

Like the wild bees heard in the tree-tops, or the gusts of a gathering 

storm ; 
In the air men hear their voices, their feet on the rocks are seen, 
Yet we all say, "Whence is the message, and what may the wonder 

mean ? " 

A million shrines stand open, and ever the censer swings, 

As they bow to a mystic symbol, or the figures of ancient kings ; 

And the incense rises ever, and uses the endless cry 

Of those who are heavy-laden, and of cowards loth to die. 

For the destiny drives us together, like deer in a pass of the hills. 
Above is the sky, and around us the sound of the shot that kills ; 
Pushed by a Power we see not, and struck by a hand unknown, 
We pray to the trees for shelter, and press our lips to a stone. 



1 From Verses Written in India (1889) by Sir Alfred Lyall. 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 171 

The trees wave a shadowy answer, and the rock frowns hollow and 

grim, 
And the form and the nod of the demon are caught in the twilight 

dim ; 
And we look to the sunlight falling afar on the mountain crest, 
Is there never a path runs upward to a refuge there and a rest ? 

The path, ah ! who has shown it, and which is the faithful guide ? 
The haven, ah ! who has known it ? for steep is the mountain side, 
For ever the shot strikes surely, and ever the wasted breath 
Of the praying multitude rises, whose answer is only death. 

Here are the tombs of my kinsfolk, the fruit of an ancient name, 
Chiefs who were slain on the war-field and women who died in flame ; 
They are gods, these kings of the foretime, they are spirits who guard 

our race, 
Ever I watch and worship ; they sit with a marble face. 

And the myriad idols around me, and the legion of muttering priests, 
The revels and rites unholy, the dark unspeakable feasts ! 
"What have they wrung from the silence ? Hath even a whisper come 
Of the secret whence and whither ? Alas ! for the gods are dumb. 

Shall I list to the word of the English, who come from the uttermost 

sea? 
"The secret, hath it been told you, and what's your message to me ?" 
It is nought but the wide-world story how the earth and the heavens 

began, 
How the gods are glad and angry, and a Deity once was man. 

I had thought, " Perchance in the cities where the rulers of India 

dwell, 
"Whose orders flash from the farland, who girdle the earth with a spell, 
They have fathomed the depths we float on, or measured the unknown 

main — " 
Sadly they turn from the venture, and say that the quest is vain. 

Is life then a dream and delusion, and where shall the dreamer 

awake ? 
Is the world seen like shadows on water, and what if the mirror 

break ? 
Shall it pass as a camp that is struck, as a tent that is gathered and 

gone 
From the sands that were lamp-lit at eve, and at morning are level 

and lone ? 



172 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Is there nought in the heaven above, whence the hail and the levin 

are hurled, 
But the wind that is swept around us by the rush of the rolling 

world ? 
The wind that shall scatter my ashes, and bear me to silence and 

sleep 
With the dirge, and the sounds of lamenting, and voices of women 

who weep. 

Yes, it is the wide-world story of hereditary tradition, 
of primitive revelation which, in its divine fulness, 
power, and sanctions, Christianity proclaims for the con- 
version of India — " God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son." To deliver in all its 
purity and completeness such a message, and to make it 
effectual with such men as the inheritors of centuries of 
ignorance of God or hostility to His Son, requires, first 
of all, that every missionary be like the first martyr, 
" full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom," " full of faith and 
power" (Acts vi. 3, 8). Before all methods is the 
man who is to work them. If the missionary be of the 
right spiritual temper, he will devise or apply with effi- 
ciency the method which God designs him to use. 

The classical passages regarding the call and qualifica- 
tions of men and women to be missionaries are Ephesians iv. 
and 1 Corinthians xii. and xiii. The Lord, having insti- 
tuted the sacrament of commemoration and of consecration, 
and having proclaimed His command to teach all nations, 
on His ascension, "gave some men as evangelists," or 
" teachers " as it is in the parallel passage. The five 
signs of the true Christian missionary are these : — 

(1) The missionary must be conscious of the call of 
Christ and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for what- 
ever " diversities of operations," as in 1 Corinthians xii. 
and 6, are given to him by God. This excludes every 
secondary motive however good in itself, and forbids 
every unworthy aim. The love of knowledge, the desire 
to travel, eagerness for early marriage, a legitimate hope 
of position or reputation, or even of pleasantly convenient 
work, are as much excluded as simony and hypocrisy, as 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 173 

seeking a livelihood or a mere respectable profession. 
To use a mediaeval phrase, the missionary must be 
Christ-intoxicated. 

(2) The missionary must, in his training and his work, 
" covet earnestly the best gifts." He must qualify him- 
self for the highest state of efficiency. At college he 
must stud}^ to the full measure of his powers and win, 
like Henry Martyn, the highest honours for the glory of 
his Master, while he feels that such honours are "a 
shadow," and prays that they be not a temptation. If 
not a college man, but an artisan, he must be master of 
his craft and rejoice in his art, that by teaching it in the 
spirit of the Carpenter's Son he may bring Christian 
communities to the birth and make nations of them. 

(3) The missionary must follow the " more excellent 
way" of love as described in the golden passage that 
follows 1 Corinthians xii. He is to deal with the dark 
races, the majority of mankind, so as to be a means of 
bringing them out of darkness, and must not only love 
them, in his own degree, with the love of Christ, but 
must sympathetically show the patience, the tenderness, 
the wisdom of the Master, that his spiritual children may 
as soon as possible be made to walk on their own feet, 
and govern themselves, to be apostles to their countrymen. 
Less easy still, the missionary has to prove that, 
although a good temper towards his brethren is so 
difficult that it would seem practically to be the spiritual 
grace most seldom attained, he has learned apostolic 
charity in all its breadth of humility, self-sacrifice, and 
geniality. Ziegenbalg wrote in 1710 — "I would humbly 
propose to the Protestant Churches to supply us with 
learned students in divinity, and send them here to be 
instructed in the Indian languages — men truly fearing 
God and hating covetousness, free from the inveterate 
ecclesiastical itch of ruling over God's inheritance." A 
century later Carey, Marshman, and Ward, in their 
Missionary Covenant which the brotherhood carried out 
through all their lives, made this the highest of the 
eleven points of which they wrote — •" We think it right to 



174 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

fix our serious and abiding attention." Judson's request 
to America was for " humble, quiet, persevering men ; men 
of sound sterling talents, of decent accomplishments and 
natural aptitude to acquire a language ; men of an 
amiable, yielding temper, willing to take the lowest place, 
to be the least of all and the servants of all ; men who 
enjoy much closet religion, who live near to God and are 
willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake without being 
proud of it. These are the men we need ! " 

(4) The missionary must learn habits of order in his 
person, his study, his mission, and of business in keeping 
accounts, so as to economise the gifts of Christ's distant 
people, and in utilising time alike for work, rest, and 
recreation. In the great mission fields of the world want 
of common sense comes next to want of charity as an 
obstruction to the kingdom of Christ. 

(5) The missionary, so called and so possessed of the 
Spirit of Christ, will complete the apostolic life and char- 
acter thus — " We will give ourselves continually to prayer 
and to the ministry of the Word." The Serampore Cove- 
nant had this as its tenth point — " That we be constant 
in prayer and the cultivation of personal religion, to fit 
us for the discharge of these laborious and unutterably 
important labours. Let us often look at Brainerd, in the 
woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God 
for the perishing heathen, without whose salvation nothing 
could make him happy." And all this is as true of the 
members of the organisations — Churches and Societies — 
which select and accredit the missionaries as of those who 
go. Every true man and woman among them learns the 
fact that the highest spiritual development and enjoyment 
is in the work of foreign missions. Andrew Fuller, first 
and best of secretaries, wrote in 1789, when he joined 
Carey : " Before this I did little but pine over my misery, 
but since I have betaken myself to greater activity for 
God, my strength has been recovered and my soul 
replenished." Sutcliffe, their colleague, when dying, ex- 
claimed, " I wish I had prayed more," or, as Fuller who 
often quoted this, paraphrased it, " I wish I had prayed 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 175 

more for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to attend the 
labours of our friends in India ; I might have witnessed 
more of the effects of their efforts in the conversion of the 
heathen." 

It is on prayer and sacrifice in Christendom, but, above 
all, on the personal spirituality and zeal of every missionary 
whom it sends forth now, that the future of the Church 
of India and the East depends. If the history, literature, 
and mental and moral character of the peoples of India 
demand Christians of the highest gifts of faith and intellect, 
the Spirit of God has richly granted a succession of such, 
while illustrating the law of the kingdom that weak things 
are chosen to confound the mighty. Carey, from the first, 
sought help in the record of David Brainerd, and willed 
to go to the scattered savages of the Pacific Ocean. God 
sent him to Bengal, as He had sent the Pietist scholars, 
Ziegenbalg, Schultze, and Schwartz, to South India. Since 
the martyrdom of Stephen, of Paul, and of Peter, no period 
of Church history and no region of the unevangelised 
world shows such a succession of great missionaries as the 
first century of the English-speaking conversion of India. 

To follow the order of time, and mention only the holy 
dead, let the memory dwell on these names — Carey and 
Ward, Marshman and his wife, and Mack ; David Brown 
and Claudius Buchanan, Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason ; 
Heber and Cotton ; Judson and the three women who 
were his true helpmeets, and Mason ; Duff and Lacroix ; 
John and Isabella Wilson ; John Anderson, Stephen Hislop 
and Ion Keith -Falconer ; Mullens and John Hay ; 
Noble and George M. Gordon; Scudder and Newton; Cald- 
well and French. Every reader can add to the list, 
especially the names of women, matrons and maidens, 
and some not professional missionaries, who ministered to 
Christ in the persons of His flock in India. On them, too, 
as on all the servants who shall complete the number of 
God's chosen ones, and be with Christ where He is, the 
divine benediction is spoken and the apostolic record is 
written: " Prophets — who through faith subdued kingdoms, 
wrought righteousness, obtained promises," " of whom the 



176 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

world was not worthy." But wise and honest rulers of 
the world, like Lord Lawrence, bear to them this testi- 
mony : " Notwithstanding all that the English people have 
done to benefit India, the missionaries have done more 
than all other agencies combined." 

The training of the best young men and women for 
missions to non-Christians, especially to the civilised and 
caste-bound millions of British subjects in the East, and 
the selection of the best of these, form the highest func- 
tions of Churches, committees, and secretaries. Where, as 
under Presby terianism, the Church is itself the missionary 
society of which every communicant and child is a member, 
the missionary candidate is fully trained. He is, intel- 
lectually, the product of three or four years' study at one 
of the national universities, crowned by a degree, and of 
four years' thorough mastery of the Bible in the two 
original languages, of apologetic and systematic divinity, 
of the history of the Church, and of practical home mission 
and preaching work. Seven or eight years of such a 
course, severely tested, and guarded from the temptations 
of spiritual routine, have produced the men who have made 
the pioneers and the most successful messengers to the 
Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Mohammedan communities. 

Nearly the same period of study, in which four or 
five years of medicine and surgery take the place of the 
Arts course and of Hebrew, qualifies the most successful 
medical missionaries who are ordained. The Universities 
of Cambridge, Oxford, and Dublin, liberalised, train the 
Anglicans and Nonconformists similarly, though with less 
theology and scholarship, for the Societies. Such full 
instruction as is common to ministers of all the Churches 
is better for the future missionary than that of special 
institutes, although these are necessary for unordained and 
artisan agents. For India, of all the world, the choicest 
of English-speaking youth are wanted. Such are never 
disappointed ; the more accomplished they are for the 
conflict, the more they experience the joy of the true 
warrior for Christ. It is not such who return to cover 
their own discredit by childish criticism. Ever since 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 177 

the evangelical Churches of Christendom united, once a 
year on St. Andrew's Day and during the last week of 
November, in solemn intercession before God on behalf of 
missions, and especially that the Lord would thrust forth 
labourers into His harvest, India, China, and Japan, Africa 
and Oceania, have received from the United Kingdom and 
the United States hundreds of the student volunteers who, 
as when Judson and his followers reproached the Church 
of their day, are pressing to be sent to the front of the 
battle faster than there are faith and self-denial to send 
them. 

The one aim — that Christians shall make Christians, 
and the best agent — the most efficient missionary spirit- 
ually and intellectually, being secured, the question of 
methods is easier of solution. Methods must follow the 
example and the command of Christ, under the provi- 
dential guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is in the present 
stage of the Church's action in the non-Christian world, 
and especially in India, far more important to trust the 
missionaries it has sent, and to follow the evolution of 
Providence without weariness in well-doing or fickleness 
and faithlessness in council, than to be guided by critics, 
destitute alike of experience, charity, and responsibility, 
however plausible their profession. 

Before He sent out the Twelve to the lost sheep of 
the house of Israel and the Seventy, "Jesus went about 
all the cities and villages teaching and preaching and 
healing" (St. Matthew ix. 35). These three words re- 
appear in all the records of His last missionary charge, 
but amplified as if to leave unfettered the course of God's 
providence and the manifold activities of His Spirit in 
enabling His followers to do greater works than His own 
when upon earth. St. Matthew's is the widest — 

(1) Disciple all nations : MaOy]T€vo-ar€ iravra ra Wvq. 

(2) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you : AiSdorKovres avrovs Trjpdv iravra ocra 
evereiXdfxrjv vfjbiv. 

(3) Preach the gospel to the whole creation, is Mark's : 
K.rjpv^are to evayyeXtov Trdxrrj rrj KTicret. 

N 



178 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

(4) Ye are witnesses, is Luke's : 'Y/Aefc ka-re fiaprvpes. 

The conversion of India has been carried on for a cen- 
tury by methods springing out of the application of the 
example and the words of the Lord applied to its very 
different peoples at successive times. Seeking the super- 
natural conversion of the individual, the first missionaries 
naturally adopted the two methods essential and common 
to all Christian evangelising — they (1) translated the 
Bible into the language of the people, and they (2) 
preached its message in that language. Familiarity with 
the vernacular should be, and now is, insisted on in the 
case of every missionary even though his work be mainly 
through English. In his memorable paper on Preaching 
to the Hindus, read to the General Missionary Con- 
ference of India held at Allahabad in 1871, Dr. John 
Wilson, declaring the evangelisation of India to be in some 
respects the greatest distinctive enterprise yet attempted 
by the Church of Christ, defined preaching in India as 
"the proclamation of the gospel in many forms," and 
the mother tongue of the masses as the key to every 
form. English has rapidly become an alternative verna- 
cular language with thousands, as temporary missionaries 
to the educated classes happily know. If there are now 
any absolute anti- Anglicists they must answer the question 
— Why did the wisdom of God choose the Greek language 
for the New Testament ? But all must have the ver- 
nacular key to the heart of India, while the few wield 
that of the vernaculars themselves, the classical tongues 
and literatures of the Brahman, the Parsee, the Buddhist, 
and the Mohammedan. 

(3) Teaching follows quick on translating and preaching. 
The children of converts must be taught, but the missionary 
soon finds that it is only the young whose conscience is 
quick and whose intelligence is active. While neglecting 
no inquirer, he learns to work for the coming generation, 
for the future as for the present. While earnestly 
seeking to persuade the individual he quickly realises that 
he is laying the foundation of a Church, of a spiritual 
community, of a nation. Then he is arrested by caste, 



THE METHODS OE THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 179 

and by the impossibility of reaching one-half of the whole 
people except through their fathers and husbands. A 
generation passes before the door of the zanana or the 
hareem is open even to the missionary's wife. Translating, 
preaching, and teaching the men is followed in the de- 
velopment in the Church of India by (4) specially trained 
women visiting the women in their own homes. The 
individual becomes the family, and the families form 
churches and communities. Then the evangelical mission 
glides into (5) the new method of healing as, like the Lord, 
it goes about all the cities and villages. Again, it is the 
men who are first reached in this complex Indian society, 
but for them the State provides such help in the cities 
that medical missions in India seek more and more the 
neglected villagers. Last of all, Great Britain wakes up, 
as America had before done, to the sufferings of the other 
sex, and the great necessity is woman medical missionaries, 
as we enter on the second century. Of 170 medical men 
with a full British qualification in the mission fields of the 
world only 50 are in India. Of the 20 of these who are 
women 16 are in India, and every year is adding to the 
number. The gift of the United States of America to the 
women of India is far greater than that. 

(6) The literary method, as it may be called, the use of 
the press to supply pure reading to the young Christian 
Church, while it is the first resorted to for the translation 
of Holy Scripture, has been the latest so far as the publi- 
cation of good books for men, women, and children is con- 
cerned. Through the Christian Literature Society, the 
fruit of the Sepoy War of 1857-58, Dr. Murdoch, en- 
couraged by Lord Northbrook when Governor-General, 
has produced and published school and reading books in 
most of the languages of India. To provide good text- 
books in the various vernacular languages for a vast 
juvenile population is a very difficult matter. For the 
forty years since Dalhousie's action this was left, as in the 
West, to private enterprise. But neither morally nor 
educationally has this been satisfactory. Accordingly, 
seventeen of the best experts in Bengal, of whom only four 



180 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

are Europeans, now form a central text-book committee, 
independent alike of authors and publishers, and these 
advise the Government Department, who publish an 
authorised list. The plan for middle schools has proved 
so successful that it has been extended to high and 
primary schools. The result is that there is a rush 
of books for adjudication, of which one-half are de- 
clared unsuitable for schools. For more than half a 
century the Calcutta School-Book Society has most use- 
fully served as the chief medium for distributing books, 
but Sir Charles Elliot, the Lieutenant-Governor, amal- 
gamated it with the Society for the Diffusion of Useful 
Literature, which receives an annual grant of Es. 2800. 
No man has done more during a long lifetime for pure 
literature in India, Ceylon, and China than Dr. Murdoch. 
The Scottish missions in Africa, no less than in India, and 
even in China, and wherever they are established, are 
always marked by the practical features of the educational 
and industrial training of the converts. Scotsmen are 
teachers and are captains of labour, so that their mission- 
aries create Christian communities and form them into 
Christian nations. 

Perhaps the most apparently remarkable result of the 
hundred years of foreign missions is seen, on their literary 
side, in the reduction of the languages of the peoples to 
writing and grammatical form, and in the translation of 
the Bible. When Carey settled at Serampore, and the 
Derby editor, William Ward, became his printer colleague, 
the Bible was translated into only 30 languages, beginning 
with the Latin. He himself, with his other colleague, 
Marshman, and their college of pundits, made or edited 
nearly 40 more. To-day the Bible is sold for a trifle 
in 330 languages — a gain of 300 in a century. What that 
involves and means the greatest secular philologers are not 
slow to confess. But the spiritual results it is impossible 
to over-estimate. The time has not yet come when the 
native Christians themselves shall produce translations of 
the Bible more idiomatic and national than those made 
and periodically revised by foreign missionary scholars, 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 181 

for the Wiclif and Tyndale of the Church of India have not 
yet arisen. But not a few Hindu and Mohammedan con- 
verts have enriched the ethically barren literature of their 
people with works that will live, such as Imad-ud-din 
Lahiz, D.D., with twenty-seven works in Hindi, Hindu- 
stani, and Persian; Baba Padmanji and Ganpatrao Na- 
valkar in Marathi ; Lai Behari Dey, in Bengali ; and many 
more in Tamil, Kanarese, and Malayalam, while the publi- 
cations in English as the lingua franca of the educated 
classes are innumerable. 

The evangelical missionaries in India have recently de- 
fined their own methods after the experience of a century. 
In 1889 thirty -six of the British, American, and Danish 
agents of nine of the principal organisations at work in 
South India, and four native clergymen, forming the Mad- 
ras Missionary Conference, sent "an open letter to the 
Churches" of the West. This communication, extending 
to sixteen widely-printed pages, must be put at the head 
of all the literature on the subject up to the present time, 
in ripeness of experience, calmness of judgment, wisdom 
of suggestion, accuracy of facts, and catholicity of spirit. 
A description of modern Hinduism, its popular worship 
and as a system of thought, followed by a sketch of the 
present condition of the people, leads up to these con- 
clusions : — The conditions of mission work in India are 
intricate and peculiarly difficult ; the elements with which 
Christianity has to contend are most various and power- 
ful ; the present time, marked not only by disintegration 
and social unrest, but by struggles after reform, pathetic 
and hopeful even in their comparative failure, calls for 
every possible sacrifice and for wise and varied effort for 
the salvation of India. "Since the Spirit of God still 
abides in the Church, it is not shut up to a mere imitation 
of methods used in bygone days by men, however saintly, 
successful, or illustrious. God is with us also, inspiring 
and guiding us as He guided our fathers ; and by placing 
us in such new untried conditions God means us, and the 
Church through us, to learn new lessons and apply new 
methods. As missionaries in India for the specific 



182 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

purpose of making all its people the disciples of Jesus 
Christ, we judge of all methods by the degree in which 
they contribute, whether ultimately or immediately, to the 
attainment of this great end. Our methods, as might be 
expected, are various, and as far as possible, the gospel of 
Christ is presented to every section of the community." 
The work now being done is grouped as follows : — 

I. MISSION WORK AMONG THE CHILDREN. 

Boys' Schools. 

Girls' Schools. 

Mixed Schools for Boys and Girls. 

Sunday Schools for Boys and Girls. 

II. MISSION WORK AMONG YOUNG MEN. 

Higher Education in Schools and Colleges. 

Bible Classes for Young Men. 

Special Addresses (English) to Young Men. 

III. MISSION WORK AMONG THE MASSES. 

Evangelistic preaching in streets and halls. 
Evangelistic preaching in circles of villages. 
Evangelistic tours and visits to Hindu festivals. 
House-to-house visitation. 

IV. MISSION WORK AMONG WOMEN. 

Zanana teaching. 

Special Evangelistic meetings for Women. 

The work of Bible Women. 

V. MISSION WORK AMONG THE SICK. 

Medical mission work by means of Hospitals and Dis- 
pensaries. 
Medical mission work in Zananas. 
Visitation of the Sick in Hospitals. 

VI. MISSION WORK BY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 

The Bible Society. 

The Religious Tract Society. 

The Christian Literature Society. 

Sale of Bibles and other books by Colporteurs and at 

Dep6ts. 
Distribution of Tracts and Handbills. 
Reading Rooms. 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 183 

VII. WORK AMONG NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 

Preaching and pastoral oversight. 

Sunday Schools for Christian Children. 

Meetings for united prayer. 

Young Men's Christian Associations. 

Institutions for the training of Mission Agents. 

"In all these, methods there is no rigidity, nor do we 
hold the view that we have reached finality. We welcome 
wise suggestion whether coming from without or within. 
Of the methods now employed, we thankfully affirm that 
every one of them has been owned of God in the salva- 
tion of Hindus. To recent criticisms of Indian mission 
work in which its failure has been alleged, we do not 
think it needful to reply, since the Church of Christ in 
India is visible enough. 

" In educational attainments, and in morality, the rapidly 
increasing Christian community is well known to be in 
advance of all other sections of the people of India. 
Though we gratefully acknowledge the success which has 
been gained, we attach but little importance to count of 
heads, believing that the moral test is higher than the 
arithmetical. The kingdom of God cometh not with 
observation, and to us there are many signs, subtle and 
unobtrusive, which assure us, more certainly than any 
figures on a register, that the Gospel of Christ ' wins its 
widening way.' 

" We have noted an outcry in some quarters against 
the work of higher education, but knowing its value in 
India at the present time, we are convinced that Provi- 
dence points out most clearly the duty of effectively 
maintaining it. The withdrawal from the mission field of 
this agency, which after all absorbs but a small fraction 
of our numerical strength, would leave a blank, for the 
filling up of which no hostile critic has yet made any 
practical suggestion. 

" While we place the spiritual gifts of all mission 
agents, their conversion to God, their evident call to and 
spiritual fitness for Christian work, above all other qualifi- 



184 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

cations, we desire also to lay stress on those other attain- 
ments without which Christianity receives only an 
imperfect representation. Since the work of European 
missionaries in India must continue mainly to be that 
of teaching, inspiring, moulding and shaping the Christian 
community, and guiding its methods of work as well as of 
preaching to non-Christians, we are convinced that men 
possessing the highest spiritual and intellectual gifts must 
always be sent forth, and that any reduction of the 
number of such men would be a calamity. 

" In India, the question of the salary of Europeans has 
not been raised. We deem it unnecessary to refer to it 
beyond stating that in our opinion the allowances now 
granted are by no means excessive, but fairly reasonable, 
and that they are in no way superior on the average to 
what it is thought prudent and even necessary that 
ministers should have at home. No class of Englishmen 
in India, not even excepting artisans, receives such small 
allowances as the missionaries of the great Societies." 

The most hopeful movement in Western Christendom 
is due to a new sense of responsibility for the non- 
Christian peoples. The section which both in and outside 
of the Churches corresponds to the Pietists of last century, 
no longer satisfied with Home Missions alone, or selfishly 
wrapt up in frames and feelings which stop short of active 
service and catholic intercession, seeks the conversion of 
the dark races. Africa and China chiefly rejoice in the 
results. India, with its unique Brahmanical and Musal- 
man problems, its claims as a British dependency, and its 
advantages for assaulting the strongholds of Asiatic un- 
belief, has not yet shared proportionally in the new mis- 
sionary activity. To some the evangelisation of its peoples 
through the disintegration and destruction of their hoary 
religious and social systems, seems to have suffered from 
the spiritual but inexperienced critics. Missionaries in 
India are doing the Church's most difficult work with fine 
courage, intelligent faith, and devoted obedience, and they 
expect the faithful intercession, the loyal support, and the 
loving sympathy of those whose representatives or sub- 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 185 

stitutes they are. It is the whole Church which is working 
through them. While resenting criticism which, alike in 
its terms and its spirit, is of the kind condemned by 
the Lord in His untempered disciples, the missionary 
Churches and Societies have used it to review their methods 
in the conversion of the peoples of India. More par- 
ticularly in England, the Church Missionary Society, 
representing two -thirds of the Church of England, the 
Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the London Missionary 
Society, have thus vindicated their position and their 
agents. 

The discussion of the past four years has narrowed 
itself to what has been called Educational Missions, to the 
administration of which the Presbyterian Churches in 
Scotland have been called by national character and 
historical providence, though the English Baptist, Carey, 
led the way in this as in all the chief methods. In 1888 
the Free Church of Scotland sent out two deputies to 
report on the missions begun by Duff and Wilson in 
India. In 1889 the Established Church of Scotland, 
which twenty-five years before had been roused by Dr. 
Norman Macleod's report of his visit, published the 
opinions of eighty -four experts on this subject. Dr. 
Macleod's last words to his Church were these, — "The 
special characteristic of the Scottish nation and the special 
gift of the Scottish Church seem to be in the pathway of 
education. ... If the non-religious schools and colleges 
be left alone they will eventually leave the bulk of the 
educated portion of the natives either without any faith 
in God or without any fear of God. Whereas, if 
Christian schools and colleges flourish alongside of secular 
ones, this demoralising effect will be checked, for a true 
and influential and reverent faith will then be seen to be 
compatible with the highest education." 

Of these experts the most authoritative is Sir William 

Muir. He declares 1 that he values the Christian colleges 

for their results in "immediate conversion to the faith," 

1 See Educational Missions in India. Revised Special Report to the 

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, May 1890, p. 213. 



186 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

and that it would be a calamity for India if these were 
withdrawn. But, besides that, " the country has by them 
been inoculated with Christian sentiment," and it was the 
Scots schools and colleges which first called forth the 
sympathies of Hindus towards Occidental learning, and in 
doing so gave them a bent towards Christianity. " It is 
our duty to maintain them," concludes one who, while he 
is himself at the head of all Arabic scholars in the English 
language, has, during half a century's career in the highest 
offices in India, England, and Scotland, been identified 
with the evangelical and evangelistic school. An authority 
of a similar type is the great Marquis of Dalhousie's cousin, 
the Hon. Sir Henry Ramsay, C.B., who has spent his life 
as an official in the Himalayan province of Kumaon. He 
has seen the result of the labours of Dr. Duff, not only in 
Bengal but in Kumaon, and all over the North-Western 
Provinces, during an experience of fifty years. " The truths 
of Christianity and salvation through Jesus Christ alone 
have been made known widely ; faith in Hinduism has 
been shaken, and the superstitions connected with it are 
only maintained through the influence of old pundits and 
leading men who have had no school education." At the 
head of all the purely evangelistic missionaries in North 
India is the Rev. Robert Clark, of Amritsar, of the Church 
Missionary Society. Like Sir Henry Ramsay, he has seen 
results as few have lived to see them. He would strengthen 
the missionary colleges instead of giving them up, and 
would encourage those who are in charge of them. The 
non-Christian teachers in them he would not prematurely 
discontinue. " There are many good Hindu and Moham- 
medan teachers who have been trained in Christian truth, 
and are doing as good service to us as ever Hiram's car- 
penters and servants did in the building of the Temple in 
the days of David and Solomon." 

But of all the more recent experts consulted, the 
authority of none stands so high as that of the late Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of the Punjab, Sir Charles U. Aitchison, 
LL.D. One of the first to enter the Bengal Civil 
Service by competition, after a brilliant training in the 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 187 

Theological as well as the Arts Faculty, he was selected 
by Lord Canning and placed abo^ve many of his seniors 
as Foreign Under-Secretary on the close of the Mutiny 
campaigns. His cautious judgment, his high character, 
and his unique experience, made him for the next quarter 
of a century the trusted guide of every Governor-General 
(except the author of the Second Afghan War) in the 
foreign policy of our Indian Empire. Like the Lawrences 
and the rest of the old Punjab school, he never concealed 
his own belief, which he adorned by unceasing private 
support of all good objects, native and British, of what- 
ever reformed sort. No man in India in the last forty 
years has had such a career, or has so well borne its 
honours in all modesty and meekness. His opinion, on 
whatever side of this question, might be accepted as the 
most influential. This is how he writes : — " God forbid 
that I should undervalue preaching and evangelising. I 
believe India is only waiting for some native St. Paul to 
turn by thousands to the Lord. But the more active you 
are in your schools the better you will be prepared for 
that day when it comes. Even now, as a matter of fact, 
although statistics of conversion are no true test of the 
value of missionary work, the most numerous converts 
and the best are made in the schools." " It is more than 
ever the duty of the Church to go forward in its educa- 
tional policy : " — 

" In my judgment the value of educational missionary institutions, 
in the present transition state of Indian opinion, can hardly be over- 
rated. The importance of mission schools and colleges is even greater 
now than when Duff initiated his education policy, and converted a 
reluctant General Assembly to his views. His argument then was, 
that Hinduism is so wedded to a cosmogony demonstrably false, that 
Western education of any kind became a direct missionary agency, 
effective at least in overthrowing the false religions. Experience has 
amply justified his views — so much so that, in the work of destroy- 
ing the heathen beliefs, the Government secular schools, the railways 
and the telegraphs, have done as effective work as the missionaries 
themselves. Educated Hindu society is honeycombed with unbelief, 
and the great question of the day in India is, What shall take the 
place of the broken gods ? Hence a growing Buddhist optimism. Hence 



188 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

the revival of Vedantic deism. Hence the Brahmo Somaj and other 
theistic societies. Hence, too, the inquiry and searching into the 
Christian Scriptures, which go on in India to an extent which those 
who ignore missions have no conception of. Now, if ever, is the 
Church's opportunity. If the breach that lias been made is filled up — 
if, in place of Hinduism we have agnosticism, or even a positive but 
unchristian theistic belief with which physical science is not necessarily 
in antagonism — the Christian Church will have to do all the sapping 
and mining over again ; while, instead of the crumbling old fortresses 
of heathenism, Ave shall have in front of us strong fortifications, held 
and defended with weapons of precision forged in our own arsenals. 
It is of primary importance now, just at this time when the Govern- 
ment of India itself is looking anxiously round for some means of sup- 
plementing the deficiencies of its own secular system of education, to 
get hold of the youth of India and impregnate them with Christian 
truth. They are the generation in whose hands the immediate future 
of India will lie, and the importance of bringing them under direct 
Christian influences is beyond all calculation. We want institutions 
like the Cambridge Mission College at Delhi, the American Mission 
College at Lahore, and the Established Church and Free Church Insti- 
tutions at Calcutta multiplied over the country." 

Among the other writers on this side were such mission- 
aries of other Churches as Dr. Mackichan, of Bombay • 
Bishop Caldwell, of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel ; Mr. Rouse, of the Baptist Society ; Dr. William 
Miller, of Madras ; Dr. E. W. Parker, of the American 
Methodist Episcopal Society ; and Dr. Shoolbred, of the 
United Presbyterian Mission. The evidence is completed 
by translations from two native newspapers. The Arya 
Patrika, weekly organ of the Lahore Arya (Theistic) 
Somaj, writes thus : — " Education work may be very 
expensive, but the missionary knows that there is no 
other work so helpful in gaining converts. The Indian 
mind has well-nigh shaken off the torpor of ages, and will 
no longer receive as gospel truth what it has not first 
thoroughly examined." The Oudh Akbar (Lucknow), a 
non - Christian vernacular paper, has " never known 
missionaries compel any one to become a Christian, yet 
would not be at all surprised if Bible teaching should 
create a tendency in our Indian youths to embrace 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 189 

Christianity in the absence of any moral training in our 
homes." 

The General Assembly of the Established Church of 
Scotland resolved to maintain its educational institutes in 
India on the same principles as heretofore, and to make 
them thoroughly efficient ; but it also resolved " to make 
more direct efforts toward the training of a native ministry 
for India." 

Of the two Free Church of Scotland's deputies Professor 
Lindsay, D.D., spent a complete year in India, travelling 
over its length and breadth south of the Punjab, and in- 
specting many missions besides the Scottish. The Eeport 1 
shows an amount of common sense, a knowledge of 
business, a fertility of resource, and a kindly frankness 
rare in such literature. Every detail of a vast organisa- 
tion, financial and property as well as educational and 
spiritual, is considered. The Free Church of Scotland con- 
trols the expenditure of £100,000 a year on purely Foreign 
Missions, of which £70,000 is raised in Scotland, and the 
rest is derived, chiefly in India, from European and 
native contributions, and from fees and grants-in-aid. 
The four Indian colleges now meet all their expenditure 
locally, only the ordained missionaries' salaries being sent 
out, and these partly from endowments. But the colleges 
have been in the past the centres from which converts, at 
first Brahmans by birth, have carried the new light into 
the surrounding villages and districts, and into the 
missions of other Churches and societies, which took up 
new provinces as these were annexed to the Empire. 
Has this later process, now marked as "evangelistic," not 
been restrained by spending too much of the available 
funds on the " educational " work ? Has proportional 
attention been paid to the aboriginal tribes, Santal and 
other 1 Have the missionaries not continued so long to 
concentrate their energies on the great cities as to neglect 
the multitudinous villages % Where the village people 

1 The India Mission and the Free Church of Scotland : being Report 
of the Deputies to India in 1888-89, Opinion of the Missionaries in 
1890, and Minute of the Foreign Missions Committee 1891. 



190 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

are cared for, have not the so-called educational and 
the evangelistic sets of missionaries failed to assist each 
other ? 

The General Assembly referred the Eeport to their India 
missionaries for criticism. Thirty of these — almost the 
whole number — preachers in the native languages, and 
medical men as well as teachers in the English colleges, 
sent home a joint - letter, agreeing in many of the 
practical conclusions, but remarking "a certain hesitation 
or ambiguity" which appeared to them to run through 
the whole Eeport. Does it mean that " the Scottish Church 
somehow blundered into the course of bringing its mis- 
sionary work to bear on the Hindus, strictly so called, 
though it judged correctly that in dealing with them educa- 
tion was the best, or perhaps the only efficient method 
it could use " 1 Or is this intended to be the general 
tenor of the Eeport ? " There was a providential guidance 
of the Scottish Church when she resolved to deal with 
that great central core of the people of India on which 
Christianity had made almost no impression," in 1830. 
" The work, which is chiefly preparatory in its proper 
nature, has providentially developed so as to leave 
scarcely any time or strength to those engaged in it for 
that other side of the work which is its indispensable 
complement." The two, educational and evangelistic, 
"are in no sense opposed, but are necessary parts of one 
united whole. Each is to be so conducted as to take 
advantage of or help the other." Many of the mission- 
aries individually write on the same lines ; while Mr. A. 
H. L. Fraser, the able civilian who is a Commissioner in 
the Central Provinces, makes a powerful contribution to 
the discussion, leading to the same conclusion. 

The Free Church of Scotland's General Assembly in 
1891 closed the discussion by a series of resolutions which 
were admitted to be at once just to the historic past of the 
Scots Missions in India, and adequate to the needs of the 
present order of things, while they express the unanimous 
opinion of the older missionaries of all classes and 
methods there : — 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 191 

"(1) That the Church was wisely guided when, in reliance on 
Divine help, it resolved, through the agency of Christian educational 
mission work, to deal with that great central core of the people of 
India on which Christianity had, up to that time, made small im- 
pression ; that this educational work always deserved, and still 
deserves, the support of the Church ; and that missionaries who are 
engaged in that work ought to have the sympathy and the prayers of 
every one who has at heart the cause of Christ in India. 

" (2) That this educational work, as the missionaries have all along 
insisted, always needed, and now more than ever needs, to be supple- 
mented and completed by the simple earnest proclamation of saving 
truth, and by earnest personal dealing with individuals, carried on in 
the districts more immediately under the influence of the prceparatio 
evangelica of the educational work ; and that the two sides of the 
work should always be in visible connection with each other. 

"(3) That, as the evangelistic side of the work has not been de- 
veloped paripassu with the other, the committee regard it as necessary, 
while in no way sanctioning anything that may tend to impair the 
efficiency of the educational work, specially to foster the evangelistic 
operations, and therefore resolve, in accordance with minute 119 of 
January 1887, still to limit to the present amount the resources spent 
on the educational institutions, and to devote to the evangelistic side 
whatever increase of contributions may be received, and any saving 
that may be effected in connection with educational work without 
detriment to its efficiency." 

In the division of labour, as well as of area, which is 
more than ever desirable in the non-Christian regions of 
the world, and especially in India, the two Scottish 
Churches, and the United Presbyterian Church also as it 
develops in Eajpootana, will thus keep the lead in evan- 
gelising the educated classes, and in training native 
ministers and teachers, by the educational method. 
China is already calling for such a method, and its appli- 
cation to Africa on industrial lines has wrought the best 
results in the creation of native churches and the forma- 
tion of many of the Kafir people into Christian com- 
munities. 

Sir Charles Bernard, formerly a Government Secretary 
and Chief Commissioner in India, suggested in this 
discussion the best practical means for meeting any linger- 
ing objection to educational missions drawn from the 



192 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

present neutral university system of India. So long as 
missionaries like Duff, Wilson, and Bishop Cotton con- 
trolled the text-books and regulations of the University 
Syndicates, the Christian colleges had fair play. Let 
the missionary organisations now unite to form a 
Christian university, such as Government would legisla- 
tively establish, just as the Punjab University was 
created from the other side, to test purely Oriental learn- 
ing. The cost of an examining university which made 
Christian teaching compulsory, while securing a high 
average standard in all secular subjects, need not be great 
at first, and could be met by fees, and ultimately by 
endowments, as the Christian Church continues to grow 
in numbers, and its native members to distance their 
Hindu and Mohammedan fellows in influence, position, 
and wealth, which they are fast doing. Union in a com- 
plete form, with the independence of the affiliated 
colleges, would thus be secured. A Christian university 
would solve the difficulties, and remove most of the 
objections of inexperienced people to educational-evangel- 
istic missions. 

What Dr. John Wilson and his colleague, Eobert 
Nesbit, wrote 1 from Bombay, when approving of the 
despatch of 1854 which created the university system, 
more than ever demands observance by their successors : 
The despatch " will aid the missionary institutions in that 
department of their labours which embraces secular know- 
ledge. But missionaries and their supporters must vow 
before God and man not to dilute or diminish their 
religious instruction in their seminaries on this account. 
. . . The evangelistic feature of our educational establish- 
ments must be preserved." 

The present writer, while still in the inexperience of 
youth forty years ago, but after two years' residence in 
Bengal, was not friendly to the educational method of 
missions. But the study of India on the spot for twenty 
years thereafter, and the careful observation of all the 
facts and controversies since, have led him to this con- 
1 Life, page 531, first edition, London (John Murray). 



THE METHODS OF THE EVANGELICAL MISSION 193 

elusion : The most powerful method for the conversion 
of India, and through India, of Southern Asia, is that of 
educational- evangelising directed by spiritual men and 
supplemented by preaching and healing. Some of the 
ablest and most hard-working missionaries in the East are 
the educational. While they ought to be stronger, like their 
predecessors, in their influence on the university syndi- 
cates, to withdraw their colleges from affiliation would be 
to confess defeat and abandon the most hopeful youth 
of India to unmitigated antichristian influences. The 
pressure of the university may be such, that the present 
staff in each college is too busy to bring to bear on the 
students the same personal influence and individually 
persuasive appeals, by which their predecessors led into 
the Kingdom the earlier generation of remarkable converts. 
The remedy is to be found in strengthening the staff of 
each college for this end rather than in appointing out- 
siders to do evangelistic work among the students. It is 
the personal fascination exercised by the able Christian 
teacher that the Spirit of God uses to draw his students 
to Christ. What Wilson and Nesbit wrote in 1855 
should be pondered now — "For our systematic Biblical 
reading and lecturing we can maintain a due place by 
insisting on the conditions of our missionary institutions. 
It is a fact that the eagerness for graduation is a tempta- 
tion to many young men to confine their attention to the 
studies prescribed by the universities. But what would 
be the consequence if, instead of opposing that temptation, 
we were to withdraw from the arena ? 1 What would soon 

1 The Jesuits, who always seek the control of education, have 
vigorous aided colleges in Bombay and Calcutta. The present Pope 
has appealed to Latin Christendom for a wide extension of educational 
institutions as a means of proselytism. On the 27th June 1893, a 
Papal Encyclical was issued on the subject of the institutions for native 
Catholic clergy in India. The Pope demonstrates the necessity for 
the appointment of native priests, especially in cases where mission- 
aries are unable to penetrate into the interior in countries such as Japan 
and China. The Encyclical adds that the Vicars Apostolic had 
received authority to found colleges in India, and had arranged for 

O 



194 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

be the character of the universities themselves ? What 
would soon be the state of the educated mind of India 
which rules the native world 1 What — 1 I may go 
on for hours suggesting most lamentable consequences." 

each diocese to have its own Consistory, but want of means prevented 
the full realisation of the scheme. On the other hand, the British 
Government and various Protestant societies were constantly expend- 
ing money in establishing colleges. The Pope concludes by exhort- 
ing the Catholics of Europe to co-operate with him in the work of 
founding Indian seminaries. 



IX 

THE RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 

" Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but 
the labourers are f ew." — St. Matt. ix. 37. 

The imagination of the most Christian as well as that of 
the most scientific student of India has always failed to 
realise comparatively the relation, in point of magnitude 
and density, of the vast Peninsula of India 1 and its peoples 
to the rest of the world and of the human race. Till 
Christendom, and especially its English-speaking majority, 
knows the facts, the duty laid upon it of preaching the 
gospel to every creature cannot be adequately faced. 
Geography is the most valuable of the allies of Foreign 
Missions, which have done, in return, so much for the 
development and elevation of the most interesting and 
comprehensive of all the sciences. Missionary geography 
is, however, only beginning to win for itself that place in 
the education of the public and the Sunday schools, in the 
curriculum of the universities and theological colleges, and 
in the instruction of the Church in prayer-meetings and 
preaching, which it must hold before Christian people, 
"lifting up their eyes," 2 share the Lord's infinite compassion 
and self -devoted service for the multitudes "scattered 
abroad as sheep having no shepherd." 

1 See The Geography of British India: Political and Physical 
(Student's Manual). John Murray, 1882. 

2 St John's Gospel, iv. 34-38. 



196 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



As the most cautious and reliable figures showing the 
area and population of the globe, we take those submitted 
by Mr. E. Kavenstein, F.R.G.S., to the British Association 
at Leeds in September 1890. We bring them down to 
September 1893 :— 

The World's Population in 1893. 





Population. 


Average i 
to a Sq. Mile. 


icrease per 
Per Cen 


Europe 


381,200,000 


101 


8-7 


Asia . . 


854,000,000 


57 


6 


Africa • , 


127,000,000 


11 


10 


Australasia . 


4,730,000 


1-4 


30 


North America . 


95,250,000 


14 


20 


South America . 


38,420,000 


5 


15 




1,500,600,000! 


81 


8 



Cultivable Area of the Globe (in square miles). 





Fertile 
Region. 


Steppe. 


Desert. 


Total.2 


Europe 

Asia . 

Africa . . 

Australasia 

North America . 

South America . 

Total . 


2,888,000 
9,280,000 
5,760,000 
1,167,000 
4,946,000 
4,228,000 


667,000 
4,230,000 
3,528,000 
1,507,000 
1,405,000 
2,564,000 


1,200,000 

2.226,000 

614,000 

95,000 

45,000 


3,555,000 
14,710,000 
11,514,000 
3,288,000 
6,446,000 
6,837,000 


28,269,000 


13,901,000 


4,180,000 


46,350,000 



The Church will enter on the twentieth century in a 
few years, with the population increased to 1587 millions. 
At the same rate in the year 1950 there will be 2332 
millions, and in the year 2000 there will be 3426 millions. 
In the year 2072, or only 180 years hence, there will be 
5977 millions. That seems far to look forward, but in the 
history of the Church, as of the human race, it is a short 
period. One hundred and eighty years ago William III. 

1 Exclusive of 300,000 in the Polar Regions. 

1 Exclusive of the Polar Regions, 4,888,800 square miles. 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 197 

was still king, and Foreign Missions from English-speaking 
people could not be said to exist. The longer every 
Christian delays to take a part in the evangelisation of the 
dark races, the greater becomes the difficulty of bringing in 
the increasing peoples. War, famine, and other checks to 
the growth of population may reduce the normal increase 
of eight per cent every ten years, as the coming century 
goes on, but all the political and historical facts are 
against this probability up to the time we have mentioned, 
when economic law as to population occupying all the 
cultivable area must affect the result, unless checked by 
new discoveries of applied physics. 

How are these fifteen hundred millions of human 
beings divided as to religious belief and worship 1 Here 
we have less scientific certainty, on the whole, though not 
for the peoples under Christian governments. Estimates 
hitherto published have been repeated year after year, and 
so fail to take account of the extraordinary increase given 
to the Eeformed Churches by two causes — the superior 
spawning-power of, and the rapid colonising extension over 
fertile waste lands by, the English- and German-speaking 
peoples during the past century. Taking into account the 
latest figures of the census of the whole British Empire, 
of the United States of America, and of the principal 
countries of Europe, as made and published in the years 
1890-92, and adding to them an estimate up to 1893, we 
have this as the result, in round numbers : — 

Christianity and World-Religions, 1893. 



Reformed Church . 
Roman Catholic . 
Greek and Eastern 

Professing Christians 

Jews . 

Mohammedans • 
Heathens 



200,000,000 
195,600,000 
105,000,000 

500,600,000 

8,000,000 
180,000,000 
812,000,000 

Nm-Christians 1,000,000,000 

The Human Race = 1,500, 600,000. 



198 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Since Carey's Enquiry, 1 written in 1786, the proportion of 
Christians in the doubled population of the world has 
risen from one in six to one in three. 

What are the two hundred millions of the Reformed 
Church, historically called Protestants and professedly 
evangelical, doing for the conversion of the thousand 
millions of non-Christians ? We do not take into account 
their efforts, vigorous and necessary, especially in the 
lands of Asia and North Africa occupied by the Eastern 
Churches for whom Americans do much, nor any labours 
for Christians by Christians of a purer faith and life. 
Leaving out of account also the many wives of mission- 
aries who are represented statistically in their husbands, 
Rev. J. Vahl, President of the Danish Missionary Society, 
gives us these results. 2 We accept them as the most 
accurately compiled, and as almost too cautiously esti- 
mated where estimate is unavoidable. In Turkey and 
Egypt only work among the Musalmans is reckoned. 



Income (English Money) 
Missionaries . 

Do. , unmarried ladies 
Native ministers . . 
Other native helpers • 
Communicants . . 



1890. 


1891. 


£2,412,938 


£2,749,340 


4,652 


5,094 


2,118 


2,445 


3,424 


3,730 


36,405 


40,438 


966,856 


1,168,560 



We abstain from estimating in detail the results for 1892, 
as they are about to appear, and still less for the year 
1893, but experts can do this for themselves. This only 
we would say, that the number of native communicants 
added in those two years has been very large, especially 
in India. Allowing for that, we should place them now 

1 An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to use Means for the 
Conversion of the Heathens, in which the Religious State of the Different 
Nations of the World, <fc&, are considered. Leicester, Ann Ireland, 
1792. Reprinted in Facsimile. London, Hodder and Stoughton, 
1891. 

2 Missions to the Heathen in 1890 and 1891 : A Statistical Review. 
Copenhagen, Fr. Bertelsen, 1893. 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 199 

at 1,300,000, which gives a native Christian community 
of 5,200,000 gathered out of all non-Christian lands. 1 

Dean Vahl's statistics are drawn from the reports of 
304 mission societies and agencies in 1891, beginning with 
Cromwell's New England Company, for America, in 1649. 
On the following page the details are summarised from 
seventeen lands of Eeformed Christendom. The amount 
raised in 1891 by the 160 Mission Churches and Societies 
of the British Empire was £1,659,830, and by the 57 of 
the United States of America £786,992. Together the 
two great English-speaking peoples spent £2,446,822 on 
the evangelisation of the non- Christian world. The 
balance, or £302,518, was contributed by Germany and 
Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Norway, 
Sweden, Finland, and in Asia. 

The figures which start out of the tables of the world's 
population and area are those of Asia, contrasted with 
each of the other five divisions of the globe. The great 
majority of unevangelised human beings, for each of whom 
Christ died, are there. At least eight hundred millions 
of these toil on its nine and a quarter millions of fertile 
square miles, or roam over its four and a quarter millions 
of miles of steppe. In Asia what is the relative posi- 
tion and what the consequent claims of India and its 
peoples ? 

The last decennial census of British India, taken in 
February 1891, revealed the following as the divisions of 
the 287 \ millions of our fellow-subjects there according 
to religious belief or custom. 2 To the Christians in 
British India must be added those in the small French 

1 In the case of the ordinary civil population the number of adult 
men is multiplied by five for the total. Communicants being of both 
sexes the number is, for missionary purposes, multiplied by four. 
The Church Missionary Intelligencer for September 1893 would 
multiply by 3£. 

2 Sir W. W. Hunter's chapter ix. of his great work on The Indian 
Umpire, its Peoples, History, and Products, 3rd edition, 1893, should 
be consulted for fuller details and percentages, as well as on all Indian 
facts. 



I 

O 

h] 

o 

I— I 

Hi 

W 

P>h 
O 

g 

fl 
O 



.2 P ® 
'55 . 2 

MO to 


OS 
CO 


COCOOI.l>.OOCOCOCMCO.l^O> 
*» I— 1 rH i— 1 




CO 
rH 


CO OS ^ CO 
rl Ol rH Ol 


O 

CO 


o 

OS 


ONINNOOMCOIN^NH 
**- i— 1 rH i— 1 




Ol 


rH tO Ol CO 

rH rH rH rH 


CO 

01 


0) 

1 


a 

s 

1 

a 

o 
O 


OS 
00 


NO«IO00lflON©inO 
®HNDNO(NO)(OHH 

i— i irs" »rfof of of co" 

CO CM OOOiH CM 
Ol 


OS 

OS 

co 
co" 

Ttl 

co 


CO 

of 

rH 


^p CO O O 
OS CO ^H CO 
CM OS OS Id 

00" co" 0" co" 

rH 




CO 

»o 
00" 
co 

i-T 


© 

OS 

CO 


Wffl03©H01M^lO^N 
©NOffiHOOINHOlrt 

oi co" ""sraTrH' oTo 

CO <M 00 0O i-l Ol 
Ol 


rH 
CO 
OO 

co" 
CO 
r-i 


Ol 

of 


co «o t^ co 

O CO Ol I-H 

CO OS CO -«* 

of co" 00" co 

lO CO t— 


CO 
XO 
00 

co" 

CO 
OS 


1 

w 


os 

00 


(DMNMHO^HNCOOT 
r-H © H(NH(0 Ol i-H 
OO Of Co" r-T 


co 
oo" 


CO 
CO 


ON«DN 
1^ CO rH i-H 
CO CO O CO 


00 

CO 




o 

os 

CO 


05N^«DCON00005>0 
TtfOOHNOJ© CM rH ; 

co"r-T cf r-T 


CO 
CO 

co" 




co 


NHHlfl 
MrtNlO 
CO CO -^H rH 


10 


rf . 
CO 
CO 


00 

'S 


OS 

CO 


CO(NOOHiON«H(N«D 

<r> ^ co -t^ co cm co • 

OS 


CO 
i-H 


CO 


rH CO O rH 
OS Ol O rH 




CO 
CO 


o 

CO 


OlOlOJi-'OlOSCOOSOCO 
CO ^+t CO -1-- CO H(N 
OS 


co 

CO 
OS 





iCi OS CO CO 

NHfflO 


Ol 

CO 


.2 «> 

as 

1= 


O 03 

•53.2 
IP 


CO 


■*iQO !D«)(NNN>OH 

^ t^ i-h • cm Ol Ol 

OS i-H -i-H 


-<* 
o 
o 





»o 00 00 

rH rH rH 





© 
os 


^COOO H (M (N O0 (M VO 
OS -^ ; O Ol Ol : 


I-H 
OS 


CO 


lO 00 OS t+1 
I-H 


00 
rH 

CM 


o 

BO 


to 


OS 

CO 


O0-*00-<*00005«D001Q 
OCO(N>OOTt(HMlO^ 
(OtM H1QH 


CO 
I-H 


Ol 

1-t 


CO <o O 

rH Ol 1-- CM 

CO rH i-H 


OS 




o 

OS 
CO 
I-H 


(MOONNO(NOOH(MCO«5 
(M H H •># CO Tji -HH 1TJ ^4( 
lO Ol rH T* i-H 
rH 


r-i 

© 

CO 

I— 1 


CO 
rH 


in 00 01 w 

CO rH OS O 
CO rH 


01 

CO 


a 

<B O 

a m 

'3b 
pi 


r-H 
OS 

i-H 


HiaN©Tj(iONOONOsO 
(N (N O CO O' M ^ CO © N 00 

co co"co"i>f vrf of of co" od t~-T of co" 

(M05H(M (NO rH CM Ol 
Ol i-H I-H 


Ol 
OS 
OS 

to 
CO 




I-H 

CO 


0^<M«D 
(N'M^O 
t41 CO OS l>- 
CO xcf-nf CO 
t^ i-H'-* CO 




CO 

os" 
l>- 
of 


© 
OB 

CO 


NOi^fKNoOOOCOCOiOOOW 

HMM03005C1QOHO 
-*00)(N(»!0(»NiONOJ 

c+> O co" CO rjf of oo o" of vo" ©" CO 
(M J> p< « (M ^ rH CM Ol 
CO rH rH 
I-f 


co 
co 
•*# 

l>f 


CO 
Ol 

10 

io" 

10 


CO OS CO 00 
ONHN 

co so tfs 
oTco"co"of 

CO rH -sH CO 


CO 

CO 

OS. 

of 

">* 
of 






«<-4 

o • 

03 

CO 
4-3 • 

Is 

cf 


O . 05 

fe • 2 • • « 

•£ fl • ■ ^J 

pq &<t^<\ 

CO Tf? IO CO l>2 
r-< i-H rH rH t-I 


cS 

s 






• • "T3 .'g 

ijiiijisrii 

pfg-S^ If sis %% 

HOQHHfciOaQQr^QGN 

H(NOJ-*>0«dNCOOSdH 
i-H rH 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 



201 



and Portuguese India, making the total 2,601,355 thus 
divided : — 



Christians in All India, 1891. 

Native Reformed 648,843 

Syrian Jacobite (say) 300,000 

Syrian and Roman Catholic .... 1,594,901 

European and American Evangelical • • 57,611 





In all India . • 


. . . 2,601,355 




Religions 


of British India, 1891. 


British Provinces. 


Native States. 


Totals. 


Hindu 


155,171,943 


52,559,784 


207,731,727 Hindu 


Musalman 


49,550,491 


7,770,673 


57,321,164 Musalman 


Animistic 


5,848,427 


3,432,040 


9,280,467 Animistic 


Buddhist 


.7,095,398 


35,963 


7,131,361 Buddhist 


Christian 


1,491,458 


792,714 


2,284,172 Christian 


Sikh 


1,407,968 


499,865 


1,907,833 Sikh 


Jain 


495,001 


921,637 


1,416,638 Jain 


Zoroastrian 


76,952 


12,952 


89,904 Zoroastrian 


Jew 


14,669 


2,525 


17,194 Jew 


Minor and 






Minor and 


Unspecified 20,645 


22,326 


42,971 Unspecified 


Grand Total 


221,172,952 


66,050,479 


287,223,431 



These figures show that Christians have increased by 
316,033 in the Provinces, and 105,713 in the States, total 
421,746, since the census of 1881, and that their advance 
has been 22*65 per cent, compared with a growth of only 
13*1 per cent in the entire population. 1 Even after 
allowing for a somewhat stricter registration in 1891 the 
result remains very remarkable. The Christians of India 
outnumber the Sikh nation. The Christians are found in 
the several Provinces and States in these proportions : — 

1 We follow the analysis published by Sir Theodore C. Hope, 
K.C.S.I., CLE., formerly member of the Governor-General's Council, 
in his Church and State in India. London, S.P.C.K., 1893. 



202 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



British Provinces. 


Native States. 


Total 
India. 


Assam 


16,820 






16,820 


Burma and Anda- 










mans 


121,223 


Shan States . 


154 


121,377 


Bengal 


190,816 


Bengal States . 


1,655 


192,471 


North -West Pro- 




North-West Pro- 






vinces 


58,424 


vinces States . 


77 


58,501 


Punjab and Quetta 


56,582 


Punjab States and 










Kashmer 


539 


57,121 


Ajmer-Merwara . 


2,683 


Rajpootana 


1,855 


4,538 


Bombay, Sindh, 




Bombay States 






and Aden 


161,766 


and Baroda . 


8,885 


170,651 


Central Provinces 


12,970 


Central India and 










C.P. States . 


6,335 


19,305 


Berar . 


1,359 


Haidarabad 


20,429 


21,788 


Madras and Coorg 


868,815 


Madras States . 


714,651 


1,583,466 






Mysore 


38,134 


38,134 ! 


Totals ] 


1,491,458 


792,714 


2,284,172 



About two millions of the Christians are natives of 
India, and only a quarter of a million are Europeans and 
Eurasians. Of the native Christians nearly two-thirds live 
in the British Provinces, and fully one -third in the 
territories of native princes. The whole of the religious 
establishments of this great body of native Christians, 
eight-ninths of all Christians in India, are self-support- 
ing, and unconnected with the State — indeed, practically 
ignored by it. 

In 1891 the Europeans numbered 168,000, and 
the mixed class of Eurasians about half of these, thus 
divided — 





European*. 


Eurasia: 


British troops . • • 


70,953 


... 


„ Officers with sepoys . 


3,617 


... 


Civil establishments 


10,524 . 


8,190 


Railway establishments . 


6,093 . . 


9,093 


Non-officials • . . 


76,813 . 


. 62,559 



168,000 



79,842 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 203 

For the troops and civil service Government provides 
an ecclesiastical establishment under the Charter of 1813, 
considerably increased by its successors, costing .£216,231 1 
a year. In 1891 there were 241 chaplains and 100 aided 
clergy for the 247,842 Christians of pure and mixed 
British descent, in the proportion of 215 Anglicans, 22 
Presbyterians, 28 Wesleyans, and 76 Roman Catholics. 
In many stations the missionaries to the natives supplement 
this establishment where it is lacking in strength or evan- 
gelical purity. What a powerful influence for good or 
evil are these Christians of the dispersion in India ! What 
is true of Christendom is still more certain of British 
and American Christians in India and non-Christian lands 
— were each a living epistle of Christ the conversion of 
India and of the World would be at hand. 

We now confine our attention to the Reformed Native 
Churches. Four times in the past forty years the Calcutta 
Missionary Conference has compiled and published statis- 
tical tables of Protestant or evangelical missions in India, 
Burma, and Ceylon. Dr. Mullens — who afterwards, when 
secretary of the London Missionary Society, became one 
of the earlier martyrs to the coast climate of East Africa — 
began the work in 1851, and repeated it in 1861. The 
rate of increase in the number of native Christians in that 
decade was 53 per cent. In the next decade it rose to 61 
per cent, and in that from 1871 to 1881 it was 86 per 
cent. From 1881 to 1890, it was 53 J per cent for nine 
years. The compilers of the tables for 1881-1890 2 deal 
with a period of nine years only, in order to bring the 
results into line with the more general returns of the 
Imperial census, for purposes of comparison. The figures 
accordingly show, in great detail, the number of native 
Christians, of native communicants, of native Christian 
boys and girls at school and college and Sunday school, 
of women under instruction in zananas, and of missionary 

1 Or tens of rupees, EX. 

a Protestant Missions in India, Burma, and Ceylon. Statistical 
Tables, 1890. Calcutta Baptist Mission Press, 1892. 



204 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

churches, societies, and agents of all kinds and both sexes, 
at the close of 1890. 

Then there were 559,661 native Protestant Christians 
in India, and 89,182 in Burma, or 648,843 in all. The 
increase is thus seen : 

India proper in 1851 . 91,092 In 1890 . . 559,661 
Burma in 1861 . . 59,369 In 1890 . . 89,182 

In forty years 468,569 converts in India, and in thirty 
years 29,873 converts in Burma, that is, 498,442 in all, or 
about half a million, have been added to the Christian 
Church. The strictest test, however, is not the strength 
of the whole community bearing the Christian name, but 
the number and rate of increase of communicants. These 
stood as follows : — 

India proper in 1851 .14,661 In 1890 . . 182,722 
Burma In 1890 . . 33,037 

In 1851, all of Burma that Great Britain held was the 
two coast strips of Arakan and Tenasserim, where Judson 
had laboured chiefly for the future. It was afterwards 
that Lord Dalhousie conquered fertile Pegu, and only the 
other day that Lord Dufferin added the Upper Kingdom. 
It may be said with truth that the number of native 
Christian communicants connected with the evangelical 
Churches of Great Britain, America, and Germany has 
grown in forty years from 15,000 to 215,759 in 1890, or 
at the present time to above a quarter of a million. No 
statistics can show the growth of these native Christians 
in wealth, in social position, and in official and professional 
influence. They are pushing out the Brahmans, many of 
them being simply Christian Brahmans, by character, by 
ability, and by intelligent loyalty, till the Hindu press con- 
fesses the fact with apprehension, and the local Blue-books 
report it continually to Parliament. The Christians have 
wives educated up to their own level, while polygamy and 
the hideous sexual customs, which legislation can hardly 
ameliorate from the outside, continue to depress the Hindu 
and Musalman communities. 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 



205 



Perhaps the most interesting fact in these Tables is 
expressed in the three lines which state that of 19,298 
adult baptisms in the year 1890, only 15 were of Bud- 
dhists, from 200 to 250 of Mohammedans, about 28,000 
of demon-worshippers, and some 16,800 of Hindus of all 
castes. Even in tolerant and neutral British India the 
Mohammedans are still the forlorn hope of the missionary 
campaign. The number of our Buddhist subjects on the 
Himalayan slopes and in Burma is comparatively small, 
but every year shows an advance in the work of the 
Moravian, the Scottish, and the American missions among 
them. 

The medical returns show 97 foreign or European and 
168 native Christian medical missionaries, with 166 
hospitals and dispensaries. 

In the nineteen years ending 1890 the number of 
women workers, foreign and Eurasian, in India has in- 
creased from 370 to 711, and of native Christians from 
837 to 3278. These taught 7302 girls and 1784 orphans 
in 166 boarding schools, 62,414 girls in 1507 day schools, 
and so many as 32,659 women in houses or zananas. 

Woman's Work in India, 1890. 







Female 
Agents. 


Boarding- 
Schools. 


Day- 

Schools. 


Zananas. 




Is 
11 


c3--h 

Q 


09 

o 
o 

€ 

0Q 


03 

ft 
p 
pH 


O 

ft 

5 
O 


00 

o 
o 

,a 
o 

CO 

411 
324 
188 
99 
364 
18 
54 
49 


OB 

"ft 


05 

a 

& 


OB 

ft 

Ph 


Church of England . . 


223 
112 

38 
108 
113 
2 
56 
59 


988 
515 
390 
310 
616 
136 
161 
162 


60 
20 
18 
15 
32 
10 
2 
9 


2599 
788 
662 
705 

173S 
407 
47 
356 


432 
152 
103 
229 
555 
128 
1 
184 


15,129 
12,814 
9,554 
5,276 
11,687 
1,859 
2,191 
3,904 


11,109 4,361 

1,612 2,959 

11,782 : 4,120 

3,244 | 2,465 

7,893 , 14,858 

293 21 

3,995 3,063 

585 812 


Congregatiorialist 
Baptist . . . 








Lutheran . . - 
Zanana B. & M. Mi 
Miscellaneous . 


ssion . 






711 


3278 


166 


7302 


1784 


1507 


62,414 


40,513 1 32,659 



206 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



This is exclusive of the medical work of fully-qualified 
women. That and the educational work of both men and 
women must tell powerfully on every new generation when 
we find these grand totals : — 



Year. 



Under Missionary Instruction- 
Males and Females. 



1851 . 


. 64,043 


1861 . 


. 75,995 


1871 . 


. 122,372 


1881 . 


. 196,360 


1890 . 


. 299,051 



Besides these, 135,565 attended Sunday schools in 
1890, and 8698 in Burma, against 61,668 in the year 
1881. 

The staff of missionaries (male) has stood as follows in 
successive periods : — 



Year. 


Foreign 


Native 


Foreign 


Native 


Ordained. 


Ordained. 


Lay. 


Lay. 


1851 


339 


21 




493 


1861 


479 


97 


... 


1266 


1871 


488 


225 




1985 


1881 


586 


461 


72 


2488 


1890 


868 


797 


118 


3491 



The hopeful feature of that table is the increase of native 
ordained missionaries from 21 to 797 in forty years. 
Adding together the numbers of workers of every kind, 
male and female, there were 9263, of whom 3491 were 
native men and 3278 native women, while 986 were 
foreign men and 711 were foreign women, exclusive, 
generally, of missionaries' wives. Since 1890 the increase 
of woman and medical missionaries has been still more 
marked, while the healthy tendency of all the Societies, 
especially the American, is to solve the question of " cheap 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 207 

missions" by largely increasing the number of native 
catechists placed under each white overseer. 

The results of the missionary census of Ceylon show 
that it has not yet recovered from the intolerance of the 
Portuguese and the policy of the Dutch. 1 The rate of 
increase up to 1881 seems to have been arrested by a 
Buddhist revival, prompted to some extent from America 
and Europe. In that year the native Christian community 
numbered 35,708, cared for by the Church of England, 
the Wesleyan and the Baptist Societies, and the American 
Board. ' In 1890 the returns do not show more than 
25,000, or fewer than in 1871, of whom 9000 were com- 
municants. There were 40,000 boys and girls in the 
mission schools. 

Evangelical Christendom sent to Christianise the Indian 
Empire 868 ordained and 118 non-ordained men (not 
reckoning their wives), and 711 unmarried women, or 
1697 missionaries, at the end of the year 1890. Allowing 
for the normal rate of increase during the subsequent 
three years, there are now 1800 foreign missionaries to 
300,000,000 of British subjects, or one missionary — man 
or woman — to about every 167,000 of the population. 
The number of ordained men is smaller than that of the 
specially-trained covenanted civil servants who rule and 
administer the country. The number of men and women 
together is less than half of the British officers who com- 
mand the native troops ; is only a fourth of the British 

1 See Miss C. F. Gordon-Cumming's Two Happy Years in Ceylon 
(3rd ed., 1892). So soon as the priests of Buddha in Ceylon realised 
that the scholarly missionaries, Gogerly and Spence Hardy, "were no 
longer satisfied with a merely nominal profession of the foreign creed 
in order to obtain Government employment, but insisted on a radical 
conversion, they roused themselves to resist their progress by violently 
antagonistic preaching from village to village." This was legitimate 
enough, and a testimony to the truth of Christ. But Miss Gordon- 
Cumming shows the impetus given to Buddhism by the so-called Theo- 
sophists under Colonel Olcott, the American, and Sir Edwin Arnold, 
and she convicts the Government of encouraging Buddhism on a 
system like. that which resulted in the India Mutiny of 1857, and 
the extinction of the East India Company. 



208 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

military garrison which keeps the peace of Southern Asia. 
Each Church of the United Kingdom and the United 
States may contrast the nine hundred male missionaries 
sent to the three hundred millions specially entrusted to 
our care, with the number of its own congregational and 
professorial clergy. Nor is the smallness of the number 
sent to India the only reproach. Were each of the eighteen 
hundred entrusted with funds for the training of many 
more native catechists, teachers, and village preachers, with 
medical subordinates for dispensaries and the zananas, the 
problem of a cheap organisation of missions would be 
solved. Each of India's seventy-five cities with a population 
above fifty thousand, of its 2035 municipal towns with 
a population above five thousand, and of its 715,500 
villages, would be brought within the direct influence of 
the Christian Church in as many decades as at present 
seems likely to occupy centuries. 

The British Indian empire occupies only one-fifteenth 
of the area of the habitable globe, yet it contains one-fifth 
of the human race. One-tenth of these live in cities, nine- 
tenths in villages. Mr. J. A. Baines, the commissioner, 
who took the census of India — the greatest scientific 
enumeration of human beings ever made — gives us the 
remarkable table on page 209 as its accurate result. 1 

The inquirer, who would learn how little evangelical 
Christians are doing for the conversion of the peoples of 
India, should contrast with that table the decennial statis- 
tics of Protestant missions at the same time which we 
have summarised, Province by Province and State by 
State. After Dr. Mullens published the statistics of 1851 
this was done by Mr. Macleod Wylie, the Calcutta judge, 
in TJie Urgent Claims of India for More Christian Missions. 2 
Then the number of Protestant missionaries in India was 
403, and that was threefold more than in 1831, near the 
close of Carey's apostolate of forty-one years. He who 

1 See his Paper in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society for 
March 1893, pp. 1-43. 

2 Published under the name of "A Layman in India," by W. H. 
Dalton, London, in 1853. Second edition. 



RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 



209 



India : its Area and Population in Towns and Villages, 

1891. 



1 


2 


8 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 




Area 
in 

Square 
Miles. 




Persons per 




Percentage of 


Province, State, or 
Agency. 


Population 

in 

February 

1891. 


03 . 


03 

fee 




Net Increase of 

Population since 

1881. t 








0Q 


> 


£g, 














£ 


Total. 


Urban. 


Madras .... 


141,189 


35,630,440 


252 


578 


9-56 


15-58 


10-75 


Bombay 


77,275 


15,985,270 


207 


635 


19-49 


13-71 


)- 10-29 


Sindh .... 


47,7S9 


2,871,774 


60 


686 


11-92 


18-97 


Bengal .... 


151,543 


71,346,9S7 


471 


301 


4-82 


6-89 


7-37 


North-West Provinces . 


83,286 


34,254,254 


411 


384 


12-70 


4-55 


2-24 


Oudh .... 


24,217 


12,650,S31 


522 


494 


7-60 


11-09 


5-82 


Punjab .... 


110,667 


20,866,847 


188 


548 


11-56 


10-74 


7-93 


Upper Burma 


83,473 


2,946,933 


35 


246 


12 60 






Lower ,, . 


87,957 


4,658,627 


53 


236 


12-35 


24-67 


7 V 86 


Central Provinces 


86,501 


10,784,294 


125 


299 


6-85 


9-61 


7-11 


Assam and North \ 
Lushai Land . J 


49,004 


5,476,833 


112 


318 


1-86 


11-30 


10-37 


Berar .... 


17,718 


2,897,491 


163 


464 


12-45 


8-41 


8-49 


Coorg .... 


1,583 


173,055 


109 


348 


8-96 


-2-94 


-7-36 


Ajmer-Merwara . 


2,711 


542,35S 


200 


581 


21-87 


17-72 


22-44 


Quetta, Aden, and \ 
Andamans . / 

Total British Provinces 

Haidarabad . . . 


80 


86,95S 












964,993 


221,172,952 


229 


383 


9-22 


9-70 


8-50 


82,698 


11,537,040 


139 


539 


9-45 


17-18 


11-09 


Baroda .... 


8,226 


2,415,396 


294 


693 


20-02 


10-54 


7-02 


Mysore .... 


27,936 


4,943,604 


177 


274 


12-67 


18-09 


13-55 


Kashmer 


80,900 


2,548,952 


31 


2S7 


7-77 






Rajpootana . 


130,268 


12,016,102 


92 


363 


12-73 


20-22 


12-22 


Central India . . 


77,80S 


10,31S,812 


133 


297 


9-34 


9-92 


7-27 


Bombay States 


69,045 


8,059,298 


117 


475 


14-61 


10-35 


12-67 


Madras ,, 


9,609 


3,700,622 


385 


1703 


4-73 


10 63 


0-85 


Central Province States 


29,435 


2,160,511 


73 


207 


1-79 


26-36 


12-09 


Bengal States 


35,834 


3,296,379 


93 


174 


0-50 


IS -30 


8-85 


North -West Province! 
States . . / 


5,109 


792,491 


155 


309 


13-02 


6-84 


201 


Punjab States 


38,299 


4,263,280 


111 


212 


10-71 


10-42 


6-77 


Fort Steadman (Shan)\ 
Outposts) . / 

Total Feudatory States 

Total India . 




2,992 












595,167 


66,050,479 


111 


33S 


10-38 


15-52 


12-32 


1,560,160 


287,223,431 


184 


372 


9-48 


10-96 


9-40 J 



* Places of under 10,000 inhabitants, including the smaller towns. 
t Excluding tracts and towns not enumerated in 1S81 as well as in 1891. 



210 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

would learn how much the Christian Church has done in 
India in the forty years since Wylie wrote, will give God 
thanks that the native evangelical community has increased 
sevenfold, and that one in three is now a member of the 
Church against one in six in 1851. If such a rate of 
progress were continued, the most cautious of experienced 
missionaries and divines, Dr. John Robson of Eajpootana 
and Aberdeen, remarks, 1 "The Protestant Church would 
absorb the whole population of India about the middle of 
the twenty-first century." 

But the comparative success of these fifty years only 
increases the responsibility and the reproach of the 
majority of the hereditary Christians of Great Britain and 
America — two-thirds — who are still doing nothing to bring 
India and the non-Christian world to Christ. At last each 
of the great Native States, even the fanatical capital of 
Haidarabad, Deccan, has been occupied by a missionary or 
two, with results which, from Travankor to the most ancient 
and caste-bound principalities of Eajpootana, encourage 
manifold effort. But there are many of the smaller States 
into which no preacher, teacher, or healer has yet entered, 
although in some cases the chief is known to be a student 
of Scripture, while in others he becomes a convert to 
Islam. There are many British and American Christians 
able enough, if they were in earnest, to take each one of 
these Native States — Mohammedan, Hindu, or Buddhist — 
and provide for its evangelisation within their own life- 
time or that of their children. Nepal alone, attempted 
by the Jesuits nearly three centuries ago, is shut to the 
gospel, as Kashmer was till Elmslie, the Scots medical 
missionary, forced a free entrance for all. From Sikkim 
and Leh, though not yet from the borders of Assam 
and the North -Western Provinces, attempts have long 
been made upon the sealed region of Thibet, now open- 
ing up. 

It is in directly British Provinces, however, like Bengal 
and that of the Ganges and Jumna valleys, that the 

1 Hinduism and its Relations to Christianity. New edition. Edin- 
burgh (Oliphant), 1893. 



APPEAL FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 211 

Christians of America and Britain have most lamentably 
failed in their duty. The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 
Sir Charles Elliot, publicly rejoiced that the number of 
Christians in his jurisdiction had advanced from 122,000 
to 180,000 in ten years. But Bengal has a non-Christian 
population greater than those of the United Kingdom and 
France combined, greater than that of the whole United 
States of America at this hour. It is, in plain language, 
the scandal of British Christians, at least, that the rich, 
fertile, and healthy division of the Province, Bahar, whence 
Buddhism overran the East from Ceylon north to Mongolia, 
and where the Hindus kept the Mohammedan invaders in 
check, has only thirty missionaries, of whom one-half are 
women, for twenty-five millions of souls, including two 
hundred thousand in its fanatical capital, Patna. Macleod 
Wylie's urgency is still justified after fifty years, for we 
have more knowledge, more resources, more liberty, and a 
far larger population to whom the gospel must be preached 
for a witness, and for their turning from darkness to 
light: — 

"The duty of the Church of Christ indeed is so plain, that he who 
runs may read it. Who hath hindered that we should not obey ? 
Have we love for Christ? that will constrain us. Do we honour Christ? 
His last commands will bind us. Do we desire to promote his glory ? 
That will impel us. Do we mourn over all who know Him not? 
Then pity for them will compel us, — yes, all heavenly affections, all 
scriptural convictions, all obligations of duty, will force us to shake 
off the lethargy and selfishness of bygone years, to awaken all our 
powers in proclaiming ' the glorious gospel of the blessed God, ' and to 
do this now, for 'now is the accepted time, now is the day of salva- 
tion.' Much more would I say for India, but words fail to express her 
woe, or to expose the Christian's shame for past neglect of her. I feel 
that it is wise to cease from man and to look to Jesus. With His 
infinite power, He can sway the hearts of those with whom all 
entreaties fail. He can raise up men of faith and holiness, constraining 
them to labour for Him, and at last He will give victory to truth. 
The cause of missions is His own peculiar cause, for He is the friend of 
sinners. He came not only to call them to repentance, but also to 
give His life for them, and He now pleads for them in glory. Oh that 
he would speedily look down upon India, send showers of blessings, 



212 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

give us thousands of labourers in this plenteous harvest, and cause His 
Gospel to triumph in every place ! To Him be the praise and dominion 
for ever." 



On the 5th day of January 1893 the Eeformed mis- 
sionaries in India, assembled at Bombay in the third great 
Decennial Conference, sent this message to the Churches 
of Christendom : — 

" Overwhelmed by the vastness of the work contrasted 
with the utterly inadequate supply of workers, earnestly 
appeal to the Church of Christ in Europe, America, Austral- 
asia, and Asia, we re-echo to you the cry of the unsatis- 
fied heart of India. With it we pass on the Master's 
word for the perishing multitude, Give ye them to eat An 
opportunity and a responsibility never known before con- 
front us. 

" The work among the educated and English-speaking classes 
has reached a crisis. The faithful labours of godly men 
in the class-room need to be followed up by men of con- 
secrated culture, free to devote their whole time to aggres- 
sive work among India's thinking men. Who will come 
and help to bring young India to the feet of Christ ? 
Medical missionaries of both sexes are urgently required. 
We hold up before medical students and young doctors 
the splendid opportunity here offered of reaching the souls 
of men through their bodies. The women of India must 
be evangelised by women. Ten times the present number 
of such workers could not overtake the task. Missionary 
ladies now working are so taxed by the care of converts 
and inquirers already gained, that often no strength is 
left for entering thousands of unentered but open doors. 
Can our sisters in Protestant Christendom permit this to 
continue ? India has fifty-seven millions of Mohammedans 
— a larger number than are found in the Turkish Empire, 
and far more free to embrace Christianity. Who will 
come to work for them 1 

" Scores of missionaries should be set apart to promote 
the production of Christian literature in the languages of 



APPEAL FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO INDIA 213 

the people. Sunday Schools, into which hundreds of thou- 
sands of India's children can readily be brought and moulded 
for Christ, furnish one of India's greatest opportunities for 
yet more workers. Industrial Schools are urgently needed 
to help in developing a robust character in Christian 
youths, and to open new avenues for honest work for 
them. These call for capable Christian workers of special 
qualifications. 

" The population of India is largely rural. In hundreds 
and thousands of villages there is a distinct mass-move- 
ment toward Christianity. There are millions who would 
speedily become Christians if messengers of Christ could 
reach them, take them by the hand, and not only baptize 
but lead them into all Christian living. Most of these 
people belong to the depressed classes. They are none the 
less heirs to our common salvation, and, whatever ad- 
mixture of less spiritual motives may exist, God Himself 
is stirring their hearts and turning their thoughts toward 
the things which belong to His kingdom. 

"In the name of Christ, and of these unevangelised 
masses for whom He died, we appeal to you to send more 
labourers at once. May every Church hear the voice of 
the Spirit saying, ' Separate me Barnabas and Saul for 
the work whereunto I have called them ' ! In every 
Church may there be a Barnabas and Saul ready to obey 
the Spirit's promptings ! 

"Face to face with two hundred and. eighty -seven 
millions in this land, for whom in this generation you as 
well as we are responsible, we ask, Will you not speedily 
double the present number of labourers 1 Will you not 
also lend your choicest pastors to labour for a term of 
years among the millions who can be reached through the 
English tongue ? Is this too great a demand to make 
upon the resources of those saved by omnipotent Love 1 
At the beginning of another century of missions in India 
let us all ' expect great things from God — attempt great 
things for God.' 

"For the reflex blessings to yourselves, as well as for 
India's sake, we beseech you to hear what the Spirit saith 



214 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

unto the Churches. The manifestation of Christ is greatest 
to those who keep His commandments, and this is His 
commandment — 



GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

"He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 
Behold, I give unto you power . . . over all the power of the enemy." 
—St. Luke x. 18, 19. 

The prospects of the conversion of India, in the same 
sense, historically, as that of the Roman Empire and that 
of the Northern Nations, depend on the faith and labour 
of the Church entering in at every door opened by British 
power and administration. Never in all its history has 
Christianity had such facilities. The danger is that, in its 
representatives, the Church trusts too much to its pro- 
vidential environment, uses too little its supernatural 
weapons. There is an intolerance that is demanded by 
Christ of His followers, and is understood and admired by 
the Asiatic of other faiths. By such, Gibbon rightly 
judges, the missionaries of Christ in the first two centuries 
conquered the Roman Empire. The want of it neutralised 
all the toil and the heroism of the Nestorian and the 
Roman monks in Asia. Brahmanism has defeated 
Buddhism and checked Mohammedanism in India, and it 
is quite ready to extend to orthodox Christianity a com- 
promise like that which it learned from the Syrians and 
the Jesuits when it developed the Vishnu worship of 
Krishna. 1 Sir M. Monier- Williams, after personal study 

1 See Dr. John Muir's introduction to his Religious and Moral 
Sentiments from, Sanskrit Writers (Williams & Norgate), 1875, and 



216 THE CONVERSION OP INDIA 

on the spot, in his Modem India and the Indians (1878), 
while too inclined to advocate compromise, shows that 
" the chief impediment to Christianity among Indians is 
not only the pride they feel in their own religion, but the 
very nature of that religion. For pantheism is a most 
subtle, plausible, and all-embracing system, which may 
profess to include Christianity itself as one of the 
phenomena of the universe. An eminent Hindu is 
reported to have said, ' We Hindus have no need of con- 
version ; we are Christians, and more than Christians, 
already.' " 

The temptations to unconscious compromise on the side of 
the Reformed are not absent. In India itself the missionaries 
have sometimes recognised caste, and have been too con- 
tent with a low level of faith, zeal, and self-sacrifice on the 
part of the converts. In Britain, America, and Germany, 
the cry for results that can be tabulated and for success that 
is evident, the preference of methods which produce im- 
mediate fruit in individuals to those which work for the 
destruction of Brahmanism itself and the creation of 
Christian nations, are of this subtle nature. Both are 
required, each for a different class, yet some of the sup- 
porters of missions attack the latter as no experienced 
missionary ever does. The wisest preacher of our age, 1 
expounding the confession of apparent failure by the man 
who laid the foundation of the Church of all the nations, 
Paul, in his greatest letter from Rome to the Philippians, 
(ii. 20, 21), warns the most zealous that the followers of 
the Cross have no right, in their own day, to look for the 
recognition of success. Only in heaven shall we know 
which are the lost causes and which the victorious. 2 

The prospects of the conversion of India are brighter 

Mr. C. H. Tawney on "The Bhagavad-Gita and Christianity" in the 
Calcutta Review for January 1876, vol. lxii. 

1 See the late Dean Church's Sermons, xvii. 

2 For a curious estimate, marked by a mixture of rashness and 
wisdom, read Christian Missions to Wrong Places, among Wrong Races, 
and in Wrong Hands, by A. C. Geikie, D.D. (London, 1871), in the 
light of the facts of 1893. 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 217 

than the faith and the obedience of the Church. Men 
who landed in India, as the writer did, forty years ago, 
and have watched the divine drama unrol its scenes, till 
the present hour; men like the great pioneers of the 
century, of whom Caldwell was the last — may record this 
as their least hopeful testimony : " To be almost a convert 
is the highest point many well - disposed Hindus have 
reached at present. They are timidly waiting for a 
general movement which they will be able to join with- 
out personal risk ; but the time may any day come when 
masses of them will become not only almost, but altogether 
followers of Christ." 1 Yet, looking up and abroad from the 
circumstances of the hour to the wide contrasts of a period 
of forty years, we have authoritatively stated results which 
make this seem rather the testimony of pessimism. 
We who began our Indian career in 1853, who witnessed 
the Mutiny of 1857, took part in the reorganisation of the 
administration in 1858-1861, and rejoiced in the increase at 
that time of missionary efforts, would have pronounced it 
incredible that, ten years before the end of the nineteenth 
century, there would be more Christians than Sikhs in 
India, and that the rate of increase of native Christians in 
the martial races of the Punjab, Mohammedan and Hindu, 
would be three hundred per cent every decade. 

1881. 1891. Increase. 



Sialkot District 


253 


9711 


9458 


Gujranwala ,, 


81 


2246 


2156 


Gurdaspur „ 


157 


2069 


1912 


Amritsar „ 


241 


959 


718 


Lahore „ 


760 


1397 


637 


Ambala „ 


224 


453 


229 


Lodiana ,, 


179 


305 


126 


Rawalpindi ,, 


110 


214 


104 


Jalandhar „ 


66 


136 


70 


Gurgaon „ 


26 


86 


60 


Jhelum „ 


48 


106 . 


58 


Simla „ 


210 


262 


52 



1 Bishop Caldwell On Reserve in communicating Religious Instruc- 
tion to non- Christians in Mission Schools in India. Madras, 1879. 



218 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



We can better record some signs of the present transi- 
tions of the peoples of India from the power of darkness 
into the kingdom of the Son of God's love, through 
repentance and the forgiveness of sins. 

The aboriginal or prse-Aryan peoples of India, entered 
in the census of 1891 as "Animistic," and numbering nine 
and a quarter millions, were returned by a more correct 
classification twenty years before as seventeen and a half 
millions, exclusive of those in Madras and the Feudatory 
States. Allowing for these, and adding the casteless. 
tribes and those semi-Hinduised, one-fifth of the whole 
population, or fifty millions, from the Chooras of North 
Punjab to the Pariahs of South India, are in the same 
position for rapidly receiving Christianity as the Kafirs 
and Negroes of Africa and the islands. It is among these 
chiefly that Christianity has, all along, won its numerical 
successes. Till Carey and Duff began the slow sapping 
and mining processes among the now two hundred 
millions of the Brahmanical and Musalman cults, these 
only were evangelised. In the last forty years they have 
been instructed, organised, and consolidated with a care 
unknown in the parishes of Christendom. The result is 
seen in South India, in the Telugu country, in Chota 
Nagpore, in Santalia, and in the more recent labours of the 
Established Church of Scotland and the Church Missionary 
Society in the Punjab districts of Sialkot and Goojrat. 
This is a marvellous table of the results of evangelical 
Christianity in forty years, not to be equalled by any 
period of Church history : — 

Forty Years' Progress of Evangelical Christianity 
in South India. 



Foreign Ordained Agents • . 


1851. 


1861. 


1871. 


1881. 


1890. 


147 


201 


196 


217 


262 


Native do. • . 


21 


97 


225 


461 


767 


Foreign and Eurasian Lay 












Preachers ..'•§•» 








72 


118 


Native Lay Preachers • • • 


493 


1,266 


1,985 


2,488 


3,491 


Native Christians .... 


91,092 


138,731 


224,258 


417,372 


559,661 


Native Communicants . • . 


14,661 


24,976 


52,816 


113,325 


182,722 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 219 

Historically, in every province, as the pioneering stage 
of sowing, and weeding, and watching is passed, similar 
and even greater results proportionally are being worked 
out every year. Where the missionary is weak in his 
enthusiasm and toil, or where, in yielding to the pressure 
of his Church, he snatches at wholesale baptisms, falling 
into the snare of the Jesuits without their sacramentarian 
excuse, he then suffers from inability to instruct the 
baptized, and schism and apostasy are the consequence. 1 
But all over India the aboriginal and the casteless, the 
down-trodden and the famine-stricken, the serf and the 
poor, are pressing into the Church by families and 
villages, till the Church fails to do its duty to the 
inquirers on the one hand and to the new disciples on the 
other. If the methods of the Reformed were those of the 
sacramentarian, op if the Reformed Church doubled its 
missionary staff at once, the next decennial report would 
show a fourfold increase. 

The hundred and fifty millions of caste Hindus still 
present to Christendom an unbroken front, or very little 
broken, apparently. But that it is disintegrating under 
the combined influence of Western civilisation and Christian 
truth its own leaders allow, and their methods of meeting 
the assault confess. Eclectic, elastic, willing to absorb 
every belief and cult that will tolerate its social system, 
Brahmanism presents a greater difficulty than classical 
Paganism, if only because of caste. But the caste 
principle itself is so weakened, that an educated Hindu 
may now be anything, do anything, believe anything, 
and go anywhere, if only he remains nominally within the 
fold. Formerly Brahmans could not so far resist the influ- 
ence of the Spirit of God, under Christian teaching, as to 
remain in Hinduism, because the system rejected them 
with indignation : now it tempts them by concessions. 
The deistical Brahma Somaj, which has passed through 
many stages of development since the writer's friend, 

1 See, for one painful warning, the report of the Narowal Mission, 
Punjab, by the C. M. S. able missionary, Rev. Rowland Bateman, and 
the Church Missionary Intelligencer for August 1893, pp. 628-9. 



220 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Keshub Chunder Sen, reached his nearest point to Christ in 
1868, and is now represented by the thoughtful Pertab 
Chunder Mozoomdar, consists of only three thousand four 
hundred members. But it has kept, and it keeps far 
more back from the profession of faith in Christ than it 
helps out of idolatry. The later Arya Somaj, which 
admits all castes to the new caste created by its Brahman 
founder, Dayanand Saraswati, as Sikhism did, takes its 
forty thousand members back to the Yeds. Dr. John 
Bobson, whose book is the wisest brief exposition of 
Hinduism and its Relations to Christianity, 1 on going back to 
Bajpootana after an absence of twenty years, pronounces 
the Arya Somaj one of the most redoubtable antagonists 
of Christianity, but " it is one of the most powerful dis- 
integrations of old Hinduism, and may thus do a work in 
clearing the way for Christianity." 

Under the pressure and example of vernacular-preaching 
missionaries Hinduism seems to have entered on new 
methods of self-defence. A universal Hindu conference — 
Bharat Dharma Mahamandal — was lately held at Benares, 
including many Hindu ladies of high family. A select 
committee of pundits brought up a report on "the 
deterioration of the Hindu religion." To an immense 
crowd at each of the four corners of a great pavilion four 
pundits read a copy of the report, after which a salute of one 
hundred sankha, or blasts from the conch shell, was given. 
These were the practical conclusions of the report : — 

" First, all the dharmasova and all the priests of the Hindu temples 
will offer prayers at a fixed time to the Supreme Power, so that the 
sonaton dharma be saved from the deplorable state to which it has 
come down, the day for general prayer being fixed on the 9th of sukla 
nabami of Aswin ; second, to establish provincial dharma mandal all 
over the country, such as are established in Bengal and Lahore, and to 
establish a central maha mandal ; third, to send a upadeshakas to all 
parts of Hindustan, who should preach sonaton dharma ; fourth, to 
publish Sanskrit books containing all rules of apadharmas, and to 
publish a series of moral and educational Sanskrit books ; fifth, to 
establish schools for Sanskrit education." 

1 Edinburgh, 1893. 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 221 

That is, the pundits appoint a day of united prayer, 
the employment of evangelists, the circulation of their 
religious tracts and scriptures, and the establishment of 
Hindu mission schools. So the Brahmanical revival goes 
on after a half-hearted fashion, for while caste has a side 
hostile to all reform from without, it disintegrates from 
within, and prevents the formation of an united front 
against the enlightened assailant. 

The ablest and most eloquent of all the Brahman con- 
verts of the Free Church of Scotland is a distinguished 
Pleader, Kali Churn Banerji, LL.B. His own opinion and 
his report of the prevailing Hindu view of the advance of 
Christianity were recently stated in an address to the 
Calcutta Missionary Conference on the " Organised 
Opposition to Christianity in India " : — 

"The opposers of Christianity no longer attack Christianity, but 
set themselves to show that Christians are not worthy the confidence 
of the Hindu people. The enemy are attempting to spread 
abroad the following ideas — 1, With the exception of zanana workers, 
the missionaries are exercising no influence in the country, and not 
worth noticing. 2, Missionaries are not the opponents of the 
national faith, but the opponents of national institutions, enemies to 
India patriotism. 3, The general influence of missions upon the life 
and customs of the people is not helpful, but injurious to the 
country. Besides this, numbers of the Hindus systematically attempt 
to co-ordinate Hinduism with Christianity, and do all they can to 
entice missionaries and Christians to admit by word or deed that 
Christianity and Hinduism are each systems of religion of high 
authority and excellence. This is done by copying the methods of 
the Christian propaganda, preaching, publishing tracts, etc. etc. 
These forms of opposition to Christianity, so far as they go, are very 
encouraging to Christians, and indicate that they have the whole 
matter in their own hands. And if the non-Christians have nothing 
more serious to present in opposition, all that is needed is for the 
missionaries to be true to their colours and India will be theirs. " 

If there is a New Hinduism there is also the beginning 
of a Xew Islam under the influence of the Christian pro- 
paganda and Western rule. In British India alone 
Mohammedans, now fifty-eight millions in number, are con- 



222 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

strained to learn toleration. Under the "neutral" rule 
of Great Britain, as they term it, the later generation of 
Islam are becoming rationalists, like the Mutazala sect of 
freethinkers, that thus they may justify reforms such as 
will bring their children abreast of the progress which is 
changing all around them. They hold that the Shariat 
Law of Islam is common law which must advance with 
new conditions. They teach that the Koran has only a 
temporary authority on moral questions. On the one 
hand the more thoughtful of the old school are repre- 
sented by Nawab Mushin-ul-Mulk, of Haidarabad, who 
exclaims, " To me it seems that as a nation and a religion 
we are dying out. . . . Unless a miracle of reform occurs 
we Mohammedans are doomed to extinction, and we shall 
have deserved our fate. For God's sake let the reform 
take place before it is too late." 1 On the other, Syed 
Amir Ali Sahib, a judge of the High Court in Calcutta, 
who represents the young men influenced by English 
culture but hostile to Christian influence, wrote his book 
The Spirit of Islam to assist " the Moslems of India to 
achieve intellectual and moral regeneration under the 
auspices of the great European Power that now holds 
their destinies in its hands." That apologist for the 
Mohammedanism of the Koran, who tries to explain 
away its sanctions of polygamy and concubinage, the " dis- 
gusting ordeal" of the temporary husband (Sura II. 230), 
and slavery, and only substitutes an imaginary Islam of his 
own, congratulates his co-reformers " that the movement 
set on foot is conducted under a neutral government." 
Christians must wish them well. 

Meanwhile Christianity has won greater triumphs from 
Islam in India than even experts had believed. The Eev. 
Maulvi Imad-ud-din, D.D., a lineal descendant of the 
famous Mohammedan saint Qutub Jamal, who again is a 
descendant of the ancient royal house of Persia, was 
invited to attend the " World's Parliament of Eeligions " 
at Chicago, and to read a paper. He declined the invita- 

1 See Rev. Edward Sell's remarkable article on "The New Islam" 
ia the Contemporary Review for August 1893. 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 223 

tion to attend, but sent a paper, written by himself in 
Urdu, and translated into English by Dr. Henry Martyn 
Clark. His subject is " Christian Efforts amongst Indian 
Mohammedans ; being an Account of the Effects of the 
Teaching of the Bible amongst the Mohammedans of 
India, together with a Consideration of the Question how 
many of them have become Christians, and why." The 
writer and the paper are alike remarkable : — 

" I was at one time a Mohammedan, though by the grace of God I 
am now a Christian. I know my forefathers by name for the last 
thirty generations. They were all Mohammedans, and amongst them 
have been some renowned champions of the faith of Islam. I was 
born in the town of Panipat, near Delhi, about the year 1830, and 
from my earliest youth my stedfast desire was to learn all things con- 
cerning Mohammedanism, and to spend my life in its defence and in 
its propagation. I was sent at the age of sixteen years to Agra for 
my education, and there I was taught in matters concerning the faith 
of Islam by men of light and learning and note amongst Moham- 
medans, and in order that my secular education should not suffer, I 
at this time entered as a student in the Government College at Agra, 
and in that institution I remained five years. Having completed 
my curriculum in Oriental learning, I passed out of the College with 
credit, having obtained my degree and testimonials with honour. 
From boyhood until the year 1860, I most earnestly and true-heartedly 
observed all the precepts of Mohammedanism in their minutest details 
with much pain and weariness, and I dived also into the waters of 
Sufiism and tested it. For three years I preached in the Royal Jama 
Musjid of Agra, and for many years I preached in numberless mosques 
all over the country. I was a determined opponent of the Christian 
faith, but I found nothing in Mohammedanism from which an 
unprejudiced man might in his heart derive true hope and real 
comfort, though I searched for it earnestly in the Koran, the 
Traditions, and also in Sufiism. Rites, ceremonies, and theories I 
found in abundance, but not the slightest spiritual benefit does a man 
get by acting on them. He remains fast held in the grip of darkness 
and death. As the result of much such painful experience and quite 
of its own motion my heart was no longer willing to submit to the 
profitless weariness of Mohammedanism, nevertheless I thought none 
the better of Christianity, nor did I cease to oppose it with all my 
might. 

"In 1864 I met an aged, God-fearing, honourable English layman 
who was in Government service, and in conversation with him the 



224 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

talk happened to turn on the true faith — which one is it amongst 
the many faiths of the world ? He contended the Christian faith is 
the true one ; I maintained that there was not one that was true. 
All faiths, I held, were merely a collection of the thoughts and 
customs of men, and that nothing whatever was to be gained by 
following any of them, and I told him that this observation of mine 
was the result of years of painstaking and conscientious endeavour 
and inquiry. 'But,' said the gentleman, 'have you really honestly 
examined the Christian faith and have you found it lacking?' I 
said, 'Yes, I have, and I have found it false.' I lied. He replied, 
' Is it really true, this that you say that you have examined 
Christianity and found it wrong?' Hearing the word 'true' from 
his mouth I was ashamed before God, and I said, 'Sir, I have not 
yet myself tested this faith, nor have I as yet read the Bible and 
informed myself concerning its principles, but having read all that 
the Mohammedan controversialists have to say against Christianity, 
on the strength of that I declare that this religion also is false,' and 
this really was the true state of the case. He said to me, ' And what 
answer will you give to God at the last day ? He has given the 
light of reason to every one, and it is the duty of each man to use the 
reason God has so given. You have not yet exercised your reason 
concerning the faith of Christ ; and yet you declare it to be false on 
the strength of the mere statement of others. This is to follow others 
blindly instead of honestly inquiring for yourself into the matter.' 

"These words so pierced my heart that from that moment I gave 
myself up whole-heartedly to examine into the Christian faith. This 
I did unremittingly for two 3'ears, and having come to the conclusion 
that the religion of Christ is the true faith, I was baptized on April 
29th, 1866. From that day to this, for nearly twenty-seven years, it 
has been my thought night and day how to rescue Mohammedans 
from the errors in which they are plunged ; and by the grace of God 
I have written a number of books, big and little, for their benefit, 
twenty-four in all. These have been printed and circulated by the 
Punjab Religious Book Society. A number have passed through 
several editions, and all are at this time sold over the whole country. 
Now whatever seemed to me to be necessary to write for Moham- 
medans I have written. I am now engaged on a Life of Christ in 
Urdu. This will appear in a series of books, of which each will be 
published as soon as it is ready. The first book of the series has 
already appeared, the second is now ready for the press, and the third 
is being written. 

' ' Even as the Lord has had mercy on me and has called me into 
His Church, in like manner has He shown His grace to many other 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 225 

Mohammedans also, who too have now been or are being called by 
Him. I now wish to consider two questions : firstly, to what extent 
any result has been produced in the way of direct accessions to 
Christianity from amongst Mohammedans ; and, secondly, how, if 
any, has this result been brought about ? 

"As regards the first point, let it be noted it is now some 100 
years since Christian missions were commenced in India. Before 
that time Mohammedans spoke of the Christian faith in the terms of 
the Koran and Hadis Traditions in such a way that it was looked 
upon as degraded and erroneous by the people. Since the year 1800, 
when William Carey commenced work in a part of Bengal, things 
have gradually gone forward until now the Christian faith is discussed 
all over the land. Only forty -five years have passed since Christianity 
was introduced into the Punjab. When Carey landed in India, the 
condition of the land was such that from the standpoint of mere 
worldly wisdom it was simply impossible that the Christian religion 
should spread in this country. The Hindus and Mohammedans of 
that time were strong in their faith, most bigoted and hard of heart, 
and were firmly entrenched behind the citadel of their own pride and 
overweening self-sacrifice. Nevertheless, what worldly wisdom could 
not see was revealed to the eye of the Christian faith of Carey, to wit, 
that to Christ shall assuredly the victory be in this land. He will 
conquer in India now, even as He has conquered in other lands in the 
past. This, too, is the intense conviction nowadays of us Christians 
here, and our expectation from God is that some day our land will 
certainly be Christian even as Great Britain now is. However much 
our enemies, Hindus, Mohammedans, Dayanandis, and others, may 
oppose and revile, the time is most assuredly coming when they will 
not be found even for the seeking. We shall have only two sorts of 
people then — the people of God and the people of the world who serve 
their own lusts. The trend of national life amongst us is now 
setting swiftly and surely in this direction. Thus also has it ever 
been in the history of the past. Such also, as may be historically 
demonstrated, are invariably the results of education. " 

Maulvi Imad-ud-din then mentions the principal con- 
verts from Islam since Abdul Masih, who copied Henry 
Martyn's Persian New Testament in 1810, and was 
ordained by Bishop Heber. He gives the names with 
brief biographies of no fewer than 117 men of position 
and influence, of whom 62 became clergy and leading men 
in several of the India missions, and 57 are gentlemen 
occupying various positions, official and professional : — 

Q 



226 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

"It is difficult to say exactly how many Mohammedans have 
become converts, for no separate list is kept in missions of converts 
from Islam ; all converts are entered alike in the Church of Christ. 
The figures in one of the Church Missionary Society Churches in the 
Amritsar district show that in forty years there have been 956 
baptisms ; amongst this number there are 152 Mohammedan con- 
verts. The register of the Baptist Mission at Delhi shows twenty- 
eight such converts. Nowadays there are Churches all over India, 
and in every Church there are baptisms from amongst Mohammedans. 
I have quoted the figures for two Churches ; from these it may be 
inferred as regards the others what baptisms take place from amongst 
Mohammedans. Amongst those baptized there are all sorts and con- 
ditions of men, rich and poor, high and low, men and women, 
children, learned and unlearned, tradesmen, servants, all kinds and 
classes of Mohammedans whom the Lord our God hath called are 
coming into His Church. . . . 

" What may we learn from the things that I have stated ? First, 
then, it is evident that learned Mohammedans are coming in larger 
numbers into the fold of Christ than the unlearned, because they are 
better educated ; and, secondly, that so far from the situation being 
devoid of hope, it is big with blessings. There was a time when 
the conversion of a Mohammedan to Christianity was looked on as a 
wonder. Now they have come and are coming in their thousands. 
Compared with converts from amongst Hindus, converts from amongst 
Mohammedans are fewer far. Where there are ten thousand from 
amongst Hindus, there are a thousand from amongst Mohammedans. 
This backwardness to come into the Church of Christ is but part and 
parcel of Mohammedan backwardness and sluggishness in all other 
matters. . . . Nevertheless, we may thank God that such numbers 
have become Christians from amongst them, and are now jealous for 
the faith, and are an example to their brethren still in Mohammedan 
darkness. 

"It still remains to be considered in what way the results of 
which I have spoken in the first part of this paper have been produced. 
The hidden and real cause, of course, is the grace of God. He, 
according to His promises, is gathering into His Church from amongst 
all nations those that are being saved, even as He has done from the 
first (Acts xi. 47). The other causes are certain manifest things. 

"The first is the freedom for individuals to follow their own 
beliefs which the British have conferred on India. This is a great 
blessing, which God has as yet withheld from the peoples under the 
sway of Mohammedan rulers. When tolerance and freedom obtain 
in those lands, there also will many become Christians, 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 227 

" The second reason is that God has been pleased to send His bless- 
ing on the efforts, self-denial, and labours of loving-hearted, devoted 
saints of His in this land. 

' ' The third reason is one which obtains especially in India, 
because of it learned Mohammedans are being converted to 
Christianity, and it is this : From 1850 till the present day, great 
discussions and continual strivings about things religious have gone 
on between Christians and Mohammedans. These began in Agra, 
and by means of these Mohammedans and others as well have not 
only learnt how to investigate faiths, but have been very greatly 
incited by these people to speak and think. So the hidden things of 
various faiths have been thoroughly brought to light. It is not 
necessary for Christians and Mohammedans now to engage in further 
controversy. All about Mohammedanism that it was necessary to 
say has been said, and whatever Mohammedans could do against 
Christianity they have done to the utmost. We may now truly say 
the battle has been fought out in India, not only between Christianity 
and Mohammedanism, but also between Christianity and all that is 
opposed to it in all the earth." 

The supernatural power of Christianity, and the 
secondary influence of Western science and literature, 1 
have thus been allowed, for the first time in the history of 
Asia, fairly to take their place side by side with all the 
agencies of the Hindu, the Mohammedan, and the aboriginal 
religious and social systems. The result is a revolution, 
silent, subtle, and far-reaching, which works in each suc- 
cessive generation with increasing force. Gradually the 
Hindus themselves, and still more a few of their leaders, 
are becoming conscious of a force and a pressure which is 
transforming their society, if not themselves, and which 
they can only blindly resist. Now it is the physical signs 
or instruments of the revolution which the mob attack ; 
now it is the spiritual force behind the whole British 
influence which their leaders recognise with a sort of 
despair. The first of these forms of discontent was lately 
seen in a riot of profound significance which attracted no 
attention in this country. Into the filthiest and most 

1 See the very suggestive paper of Rev. F. E. Slater, Bangalor, on 
11 Work among the Educated Classes in India," in vol. i. of the Report 
of the Third Decennial Missionary Conference held at Bombay, 1892-93. 



228 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

superstitious city of India, Benares, waterworks were being 
introduced. The Brahmans had long boasted that the 
sacred Ganges would never suffer the indignity of being 
bridged, and yet two bridges far above the city had been 
thrown across it. At last the great Benares bridge itself 
spanned the mighty river, the Dufferin Bridge, and then 
came the waterworks. The Hindu mob rushed at water- 
pipes, steam-engines, telegraph wires, and railway stations, 
and woirid have attempted to destroy even the bridge but 
for the interference of the troops. They attacked the 
house of the most enlightened of their own religion, the 
Baja Shiva Prosad, C.I.E., considering him a traitor to 
his faith and city. The spiritual fermentation caused by 
education and positive Christian truth expresses itself in 
vain lamentations and yearning aspirations such as this, 
from Pundit Sivanath Sastri of the Sadharan Brahma 
Somaj : — 

' Many religious movements are now agitating our country. Men's 
minds are now filled with doubts regarding those things which for- 
merly commanded respect. When a hurricane drives the waters of the 
ocean along the beds of rivers, they swell and overflow their banks, 
and inundate the surrounding country. Thatched roofs of houses, 
trees, logs of wood, are found floating on the waters and drifting with 
the current. Here men and birds and beasts, in their struggle for life, 
get upon a log of wood, which sinks under their weight, and they are 
drowned. There, perhaps, some serpents are found coiling round the 
floating branches of a tree, and men, nevertheless, struggling to save 
themselves by catching hold of those branches. Such is the plight in 
which our countrymen are at present. A great flood has come and 
swept over the face of the country, carrying away the roofs of the 
edifices of past creeds and customs. Drowning men in their despair 
are catching at whatever they find nearest their hands. They are 
finding it difficult to obtain peace of mind. They cannot rest on any 
beliefs. What a mournful state of things it is 1 Peace and rest have 
become unattainable." 

The working of this silent revolution may be traced in 
the position of the native Christians. The increase of the 
native Christians in numbers, and the positions which 
they are fast winning for themselves in every walk of life, 






THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 229 

and especially in Government service, are alarming the 
Brahmans. In Madras, where Christianity is oldest and 
strongest, we find the native Christian papers "anxiously 
awaiting the results of the census of 1891, for we antici- 
pate a very large increase in the native Christian popula- 
tion." That of the Hindus and Mohammedans is 10 J per 
cent in the decade, while that of the Christians is known 
to have been 86 per cent. "If this increase has been kept 
up till 1891 it will be one of the most wonderful triumphs 
which Christianity has ever had in the world." Their 
native Christian Association has begun to issue pamphlets 
on the position and prospects of the community. The 
first on " Educational Progress among Hindus " called forth 
this comment from the Hindu on the Christians : — 

"Some of their women are highly educated, and this fact coupled 
with the other — namely, that they have no caste restrictions — gives 
them an advantage which is not possessed by the Hindus. The 
Director of Public Instruction in his latest reports remarks, ' I have 
frequently drawn attention to the educational progress of the native 
Christian community. There can be no question that if this com- 
munity pursues with steadiness the present policy of its teachers, 
with the immense advantages it possesses in the way of educational 
institutions, in the course of a generation it will have secured a pre- 
ponderating position in all the great professions, and possibly, too, in 
the industrial enterprise of the country — in the latter because no section 
of the community has entered on the new departure in education with 
greater earnestness than the native Christians. ' This rapid progress 
in education naturally gives them a corresponding claim on the patron- 
age of Government, as it gives them also a share in other occupations 
of the country. Recently a native Christian barrister was appointed 
as Acting Administrator-General." 

In South India alone there were 44,225 native Chris- 
tians at school and college, or 61 per cent of boys and 28 
per cent of girls of a school-going age, while the percentage 
of the Presidency as a whole is 23 of boys and 3 of girls. 
The native Christians are only a fortieth of the population 
as yet, but more than 8 per cent of the students attending 
college and of the graduates of the university are native 
Christians. The political bearing of this, from the Govern- 



230 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

merit's point of view, is evident. Christians are loyal, and 
not passively but actively so. The next generation of 
ruling men in India will have a supply of highly loyal and 
trained native Christians from which to draw for the ordi- 
nary ranks of the local services, as well as for help in any 
crisis which may come upon the Empire. Even The Hindu 
newspaper acknowledges that this community " in politics, 
industry, and the domestic and civil virtues, has special 
advantages enabling it to set an example to the Hindus." 
No feature of the rapid progress of education in South 
India is so remarkable as the extent to which the native 
Christians are distancing the Hindu and Mohammedan 
communities from which they have sprung. The well- 
known missionary, Dr. William Miller, CLE., who has 
virtually created the Madras Christian College, 1 giving to 

1 See Days of Grace in India by Henry Stanley Newman, of the 
Society of Friends (Leominster). He writes : " The Christian College is 
a monument of large-hearted Scottish philanthropy. . . . We found 
Mr. Miller in the midst of a crowd of attentive students, to whom he was 
talking and giving instruction in that easy way which showed at once 
his marvellous power of winning boys and control over them. He 
has about one thousand students in the Institution, and is the soul 
and life of the whole, and the College is manned with an exceptionally 
good staif of competent professors and teachers. "What would not 
some of the grouse -shooting billiard-playing gentlemen of England give 
for the honest joy and pleasure Miller finds in this work for Christ in 
the tropics ! . . . The affection of these students for Mr. Miller is 
something beautiful, yet nothing but the power of God can make 
them Christian converts. Though only a small proportion of them 
actually make an open profession of Christianity, Mr. Miller tells me 
that there is an immense change going on in the feeling of the people 
in favour of Christianity. I inquired what proportion of the scholars 
were Christians. He replied there were about one hundred Chris- 
tians to nine hundred Hindus. Who can measure the influence for 
good exerted upon these nine hundred Hindus, as they daily receive 
systematic scriptural instruction from Christian teachers in their re- 
spective class-rooms ? Some may imagine they endure the Bible lesson 
for the sake of the privileges of the College. On the contrary, Mr. 
Miller says, ' The Bible lesson is one of the most popular lessons we 
have.' It happened to be the hour for Bible study when we visited 
the College. We entered one class-room after another with Mr. Miller, 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 231 

it thirty years of his life and much of his fortune, ha? 
made an analysis of the list of graduates sent out by that 
one college, which, though governed by the Free Church 
of Scotland, represents a union of all the evangelical 
missions in South India. Of 650 native graduates now 
living, 100 are Christians. Only seven are Mohammedans, 
and of the rest two-thirds are Brahmans, and one-third 
non- Brahman Hindus. Yet of the general population 
from which the college draws its students, Christians form 
less than a fiftieth, while the Christian graduates are be- 
tween a seventh and a sixth. 

The political prospects of the conversion of India, in 
producing amongst its races, in territories covering the ex- 
tent of Europe, a sense of nationality and the capacity for 
self-government, arise legitimately out of the consideration 
of their evangelisation. Even the Mohammedans have 
learned submission to " the powers that be ordained of God," 
and hold aloof from the pretensions of the National Con- 
gress to an impossible form of representative govern- 
ment. Many of the native Christians take their place in 
that movement. From the first, Christianity, identified 
with liberty as well as submission to lawful authority, has 
been the political friend of the natives of India of every 
religion. It was Lord William Bentinck who, in the early 
Duff era, opened the subordinate service to them freely. 
It was Macaulay and Charles Trevelyan, associated with 
these two in 1830-35, who opened the covenanted Civil 
Service on the broad basis of the equal treatment of all 
classes of the Queen's natural-born subjects, and the Queen- 
Empress confirmed that in the Imperial Proclamation. 
Justice has been done as Caesar and Akbar never did it. 
The native Christians and the many "almost Christians" 

quite unexpectedly. We found the young men sitting thoughtfuiry at 
their desks with their Bibles before them, the teacher sitting below at 
his table giving the lesson and questioning them on it. In England 
we may call such men 'heathen,' but I never saw more reverent 
attention at a Bible class anywhere, or more complete evidence of 
sustained interest than in these classes, where nine-tenths of the 
scholars profess Hinduism." 



232 THE CONVERSION OP INDIA 

in the National Congress, having succeeded in opening the 
consultative Legislative Councils to a wider number 
nominated by public bodies like the Universities and 
Chambers of Commerce, will do well to turn their atten- 
tion to social reforms springing out of Christian and 
humane principles. That the Bengalees, Tamils, and 
Marathas of the coast, whose intellectual and moral growth 
is arrested by their sexual and social customs, should 
aspire to govern the martial and the Musalman races of 
Hindustan and the Dekkan, is suicidal 1 — until all are 
Christians. 

Then, in matters ecclesiastical as well as political, 
and through the ecclesiastical, the millions of India 
may, according to their own genius, have learned to 
follow the settlement and the growth of the Christian 
Churches and powers of Europe. The Church in the 
Punjab 2 and in Burma will be different from the Church 

1 The Hindu-Mohammedan riots in Rangoon and Bombay in 1893 
and elsewhere are a commentary on this. 

2 When Dr. Norman Macleod was dying, in 1872, he described a 
dream which filled him with happiness : "I have had such a glorious 
dream ! I thought the whole Punjab was suddenly Christianised, and 
such noble fellows, with their native Churches and clergy." Contrast 
this picture, from Mr. Bateman's Report of the C. M. S. Narowal 
Mission, Punjab, with the experience of the great missionaries of the 
Middle Ages of Europe, like Anskar, Olaf, and Otto of Bamberg. 
"The site of the new church, seated for 300 worshippers, with cloisters 
on three sides of a square where 2000 more are accommodated — the 
whole ground measuring an acre and a quarter — was given by the 
Hindu owners. The Mahant (or abbot) of Narowal was the first to 
make over his share. He had been a pupil in the mission school in 
the days of Dr. Bruce, and he pointed out to us that the ground 
which he was giving had held the pegs of Dr. Brace's tent the first 
time (more than 30 years ago) that any missionary had encamped at 
Narowal. The other owners, five in number, were Sikhs, in no way 
under the orders of the Mahant. They too freely gave their shares for 
the Christian church, only stipulating that they should remove the 
timber before doing so. The deed of gift has been signed and 
registered in the ordinary legal manner, but it was thought fit first of 
all in the Bishop's presence to go through the Punjabi form of be- 
stowal and consecration to sacred uses. So the Hindus met the 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF INDIA. 233 

in Bengal, Madras, or the Konkan of Bombay. Even the 
most opportunist of English statesmen, Lord Palmerston-j 
learned so much from the Mutiny as to declare to a de- 
putation headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1859, 
" We seem to be all agreed as to the end. It is not only 
our duty, but it is our interest to promote the diffusion of 
Christianity as far as possible throughout the length and 
breadth of India." 

When our Lord selected and sent forth the Twelve, 
first of all, on a mission confined to their own Jewish 
countrymen, He "appointed other Seventy also, and sent 
them two and two before His face unto every city and 
place whither He Himself would come" (St Luke x. 1). 
Eepresentatives of the missionaries of the kingdom to all 
peoples in all ages, they returned again with joy, saying, 
" Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy 
name." Let all true Christians, of the younger branch 
of the Indo-European family, who having inherited their 
faith rejoice in their duty to their elder brethren in India, 

Christians on a high mound which had been a fort in days gone by, 
and which now stands in the middle of the site in question. The 
donors were introduced to the Bishop, and declared to him that freely 
and in the fear of God they were making the property over to the 
Christian community, and then the leading man poured out a bottle of 
oil on the spot, and the others distributed sugar to everybody there. 
The Bishop was then presented with a spade of most business-like pro- 
portions, and his lordship turned the first sod much to the astonish- 
ment of the spectators, who, however, soon followed suit, and there 
was hardly a Christian from 3 years old to 70 who did not ply that 
same spade in turn." The church was opened in 1893, the Hindu 
abbot lending his temple bell to summon the Christian worshippers. 
After the dedication service followed the confirmation of 38 cate- 
chumens and Communion. Of the former a spectator writes : — " It was 
a wonderful sight. Side by side with the poor outcast labourer and 
the Hindu convert knelt the rich landowner, the miserable supersti- 
tion of the one and the severe Mohammedanism of the other were alike 
things of the past, and the proud ex-Mohammedan and outcasted 
Choora, having looked into the face of Jesus the Elder Brother, looked 
on one another and found they too were one in Christ Jesus. It was 
an object lesson, and one on the learning of which depends the uni- 
fication of India." 



234 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

take heart from the Lord's own experience while they, 
like the Seventy, are faithfully toiling : "I was beholding 
('Eflewpovv) Satan as lightning fall from heaven .... 
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see." 

Every British Christian, every one who speaks the 
English language, has a solemn mission from God for the 
conversion of India. 



XI 

INTERCESSION AND THANKSGIVING 

" Sear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and do according to all that 
the stranger calleth to Thee for ; tliat all people of the earth may know Thy 
name, to fear Thee." — 1 Kings viii. 43. 

These forms of Missionary Intercession and Thanksgiving 
belong to the whole Catholic Church. Some have been 
prepared by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, and in more recent 
times by Archbishop Sumner and by Bishop Cotton when 
Metropolitan of India. Others have long been used by 
the Church Missionary and Propagation of the Gospel 
Societies. 

I INTERCESSION. 

Subjects of Daily Missionary Intercession and 
Thanksgiving. 



I— The whole World. 

Monday — The whole Church of Christ. 

Tuesday — India and the East. 

Wednesday — Africa. 

Thursday — Oceania. 

Friday — The Jews. 

Saturday — The Christian Dispersion — Missionaries, 
Emigrants, Sailors, Soldiers, and our Countrymen 
abroad. 



236 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

Let us pray for Obedience to the Lord's Commis- 
sion : — 

Almighty God, who by Thy Son Jesus Christ didst 
give commandment to the holy Apostles, that they should 
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature : Grant to us whom Thou hast called into Thy 
Church a ready will to obey Thy Word, and fill us with 
a hearty desire to make Thy way known upon earth, Thy 
saving health among all nations. Look with compassion 
upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and on the 
multitudes that are scattered abroad as sheep having no 
shepherd. heavenly Father, Lord of the harvest, have 
respect, we beseech Thee, to our prayers, and send forth 
labourers into Thine harvest. Fit and prepare them by 
Thy grace for the work of their ministry : give them the 
spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind ; strengthen 
them to endure hardness; and grant that by their life 
and doctrine they may set forth Thy glory, and set for- 
ward the salvation of all men ; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for India, Burma, and Ceylon : — 

God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men 
to dwell upon the face of Thy whole earth, and who didst 
send Thy blessed Son to preach peace to them that are 
afar off and to them that are nigh, grant that all the 
people of Hindu, Buddhist, and Mohammedan lands may 
feel after Thee and find Thee ; and hasten, Lord, the 
fulfilment of Thy promise to pour out Thy Spirit upon 
all flesh. 

Lord God, who rulest in the kingdoms of men and 
givest them to whomsoever Thou wilt, we present our 
humble supplications before Thee in behalf of India. We 
acknowledge Thine overruling Providence in having given 
India unto us for a possession. Make us faithful, we 
beseech Thee, in so great a trust. Give us a spirit of 
true compassion for the multitudes in that land, who yet 
walk in darkness and the shadow of death. Suffer them 



INTERCESSION 237 

no longer to bow down to idols which their own hands 
have made. Lead them from the corrupt worship of false 
gods to worship Thee in the beauty of holiness. Have 
pity on their blindness, their misplaced confidence, their 
mistaken zeal, their self-inflicted sufferings. Teach them 
the pure mystery of the Incarnation of Thy blessed Son. 
Deliver them from their dread of the powers of darkness. 
Eaise up among them, Lord, teachers of Thy truth, who 
may lead them to embrace the holy faith of Thy Church ; 
for Thy mercy's sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

Let us pray for Mohammedans : — 

Lord Jesus Christ, may it please Thee to have mercy 
upon Mohammedans, and bring them to confess Thee as 
the Word consubstantial with the Father. Eeveal Thy- 
self to them as the Lord of Glory manifest in the flesh. 
Cleanse the thoughts of their hearts by the inspiration of 
Thy Holy Spirit. Mould their dispositions in conformity 
with Thine own gentleness and meekness ; for Thine own 
mercy's sake, who art, with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 

Let us pray for China and Japan : — 

Lord, who hast taught us that the heathen shall fear 
Thy Name, and all the kings of the earth Thy majesty, 
when Thou shalt build up Zion and make Thy glory to 
appear ; fulfil, we beseech Thee, Thy word that these shall 
come from far, and these from the west, and these from 
the land of Sinim. Make all Thy mountains a way, and 
let Thy highways be exalted, for the feet of them that 
bring good tidings of good, that publish salvation ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for Aerica : — 

O God, who hast promised to Thy Son the heathen for 
His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
His possession, hear our prayers for the long benighted races 
of Africa. Make wars to cease among them; give the 



238 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

slaves their liberty, and bid the. oppressed go free ; send 
the light of life to dispel all darkness and ignorance ; and 
grant that Thy Church, now spreading over those wide 
lands, may lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes, 
and be, of Thy mercy, the peaceful home where all may 
be one in Thee. Grant this for Jesus Christ's sake. 
Amen. 

Let us pray for Oceania : — 

May it please Thee, good Lord, to prosper the work of 
Thy Church in the far-off isles of the sea; that a new 
song may be sung unto Thee and Thy praise from the 
ends of the earth ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for the Conversion of Israel : — 

merciful God, long-suffering and gracious, have pity 
upon Thine ancient people Israel. Take away the veil 
from off their hearts. Eemove from them all ignorance 
and hardness of heart and unbelief, that they may look 
on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn. Enable 
them, heavenly Father, to receive as their King Him 
whom Thou hast exalted to be a Prince and Saviour for 
them. Grant this, Lord, for the sake of the same Thy 
Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for Inquirers sincerely convinced of the 
truth of the Christian faith : — 

Lord Jesus Christ, we pray for those among the 
heathen who know Thy Name, but fear to confess Thee 
before men. We beseech Thee to carry on the work 
Thou hast begun in them, that they may be obedient to 
the faith. Lord, they believe, help Thou their unbelief. 
Be pleased in mercy to reveal Thyself to them so that 
they may be ready to give up all for Thy sake, and re- 
joice if they are counted worthy to suffer shame for Thy 
Name. May the Holy Spirit descend on all missionary 
schools and colleges, and baptize the many thousands 
of young souls who are daily instructed from Thy holy 
Word. May they walk while they have the light, lest 



INTERCESSION 239 

darkness come upon them. May they yield themselves 
up to Thy command, and enter into the full light and 
liberty and peace of Thy kingdom, who art, with the 
Father and the Holy Ghost, one God over all, blessed for 
ever, Amen. 

Let us pray for Catechumens : — 

Lord God, remember the Catechumens who in various 
lands are under instruction preparatory to their baptism : 
have mercy upon them; strengthen their faith; purify 
their hearts ; and plant therein Thy fear, Thy truths, and 
Thy commandments : prepare them to be a habitation of 
the Holy Ghost ; and grant that they may receive the 
washing of regeneration for the remission of their sins to 
the glory of Thy name ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

Let us pray for the spiritual progress of Disciples : — 

We yield Thee humble thanks, heavenly Father, for 
all whom Thou hast called from among the dark peoples 
to the knowledge of Thy grace and faith in Thee. Grant 
that they may daily increase in Thy Holy Spirit more 
and more ; and that, using all diligence to be rightly 
instructed in Thy holy Word, they may grow in the 
knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may 
live godly, righteously, and soberly in this present world, 
until in the end they obtain everlasting life, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for Students preparing for missionary 
work : — 

Almighty and eternal God, we humbly pray Thee, let 
Thy special blessing abide on all colleges where Thy 
servants are preparing as students for the ministry of Thy 
Word in foreign parts. Eaise up, we beseech Thee, a due 
supply of men and women, moved inwardly by the Holy 
Ghost, and truly called, according to the will of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Take from them all pride and self-conceit, 
and every unworthy motive. Enlighten their minds, sub- 



240 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

jugate their wills, purify their hearts, and so fill them 
with Thy Spirit that they may go forth animated with 
zeal for Thy glory and love for the souls of men ; and 
may Thy Holy Word so burn within their hearts that 
they may speak and heal with that resistless energy of 
love which will melt the hearts of sinners. And grant to 
their teachers, that, being patterns of holiness, simplicity, 
and self-denial, they may wisely and patiently train up 
the ministers and missionaries of Thy Holy Church. Hear 
us, Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 
Amen. 

Let us pray for the Church in the United States 
or America : — 

Almighty God, who from Thy throne dost behold 
all the dwellers upon earth, we thank Thee for that Thou 
hast given to the sections of the Catholic Church in Great 
Britain and Ireland sister Churches in the United States of 
America. Let the dew of Thy blessing descend evermore 
on them, and make them rich in every fruit of the Spirit. 
Grant that between their members and ourselves the com- 
munion of saints may be maintained to Thy glory, and to 
the edifying of the body of Christ in love, May the 
hearts of the fathers be so turned to the children, and the 
hearts of the children to their fathers, that peace and love 
may be multiplied among nations, and that the world may 
receive thereby a blessing from on high, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Let us pray for Missionaries : — 

most merciful Saviour and Eedeemer, who wouldest 
not that any should perish, but that all men should be 
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, fulfil Thy 
gracious promise to be present with those who are gone 
forth in Thy name to preach the gospel of salvation to 
distant peoples. Be with them in all perils by land or by 
water, in sickness and distress, in weariness and painful- 
ness, in disappointment and persecution. Bless them, we 
beseech Thee, with Thy continual favour ; and send Thy 



INTERCESSION 241 

Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth. Lord, let 
Thy ministers be clothed with righteousness, and grant 
that Thy word spoken by their mouths may never be 
spoken in vain. Endue them with power from on high ; 
and so prosper Thy work in their hands, that the fulness 
of the Gentiles may be gathered in, and all Israel be 
saved. Hear us, Lord, for Thy mercy's sake, who 
livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, 
ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

Let us pray for the quickening of Zeal in Chris- 
tians : — 

Lord, our Saviour, who hast warned us that Thou 
wilt require much of those to whom much is given ; grant 
that we, whose lot is cast in so goodly a heritage, may 
strive together the more abundantly, by prayer, by alms- 
giving, and by every other appointed means, to extend 
to others what we so richly enjoy ; and as we have entered 
into the labours of other men, may we so labour that, in 
their turn, other men may enter into ours, to the fulfilment 
of Thy Holy Will and our own everlasting salvation. 
Amen. 

Prayer to be used by Missionary Committees and 
Secretaries : — 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who hast purchased 
to Thyself an Universal Church by the precious blood of 
Thy dear Son, we give Thee hearty thanks that it hath 
pleased Thee to call us to the knowledge of Thy grace and 
faith in Thee, and to appoint our lot in an age and 
country where the true light shineth. We bless Thee 
that Thou hast awakened us in some measure to feel our 
responsibilities. We praise Thee for what we have seen 
and heard of the power of Thy word among the heathen ; 
we adore Thee for Thy many servants who have gone out 
from amongst us to toil, and suffer, and die in making 
known Thy salvation ; and we thank Thee that Thou dost 
allow us, unworthy sinners, to unite together in this work 
of faith and labour of love. 



242 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

We humbly confess our past lukewarmness in this Thy 
service, notwithstanding these Thine inestimable benefits 
and mercies. For our Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive 
us our past negligences, and so endue us with Thy Holy 
Spirit that we may more earnestly seek Thy glory in the 
salvation of souls. 

Grant us, we beseech Thee, Thy very present help at 
our meetings. We ask, most gracious God and Father, 
for a constraining sense of the love of the Lord Jesus, and 
for wisdom to direct us in all our endeavours. Increase 
upon us the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound 
mind. Give us faith and courage ; give us zeal and 
patience ; give us a single eye to Thy glory, and help us 
to bear and to forbear. The silver and the gold are Thine, 
King of kings ! Supply us with what is needful for 
our great work, and make us faithful stewards of Thy 
bounty for proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

We pray also for all who are united with us in the 
direction of this sacred cause. May Thine especial blessing 
rest upon Missionary Committees, with their Secretaries, 
throughout the world. Bestow on them the help that we 
feel so needful for ourselves. Enable them to maintain 
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and ever to 
find favour in the sight of all with whom they may have 
to do. 

Especially we beseech Thee to look, most merciful 
Father, upon our Missionary brethren. Draw, out our 
hearts towards them more and more ; and while they are 
bearing the burden abroad, give us grace to help and 
succour them by our sympathy and prayers at home. 
Bless every letter written to them from this place, and all 
our intercourse with them. We pray for them that they 
may be filled with Thy Spirit. Grant that the same mind 
may be in them which was also in Christ Jesus. Let them 
never lose their first love. Raise them above the cares of 
this world. Help them to deny themselves and to endure 
all things for the elect's sake. Give them the tongue of 
the learned. Clothe them with humility. Teach them to 
follow peace with each other, and with all men. Support 



THANKSGIVING 243 

them under spiritual distresses, temptations of the adver- 
sary, bodily sickness, domestic anxieties, and hope deferred. 
And so confirm Thy word from their lips by the power of 
the Holy G-host, that through them multitudes may be 
turned from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto Thee, our God. 

We praise Thee, Thou God of all grace, for the Con- 
verts, the Native Catechists, and the Native Ministers, 
whom Thou hast granted to us in our several missions. 
As Thou hast raised the Native Churches thus far, bring 
them, we pray Thee, to full ripeness and perfectness of 
age in Christ. Pour out upon them Thy Holy Spirit. 
Stablish, strengthen, settle them, and so enlarge their 
liberality, that they may both maintain Thy Word among 
themselves, and may make it known to the regions beyond 
them, till all the peoples hear the glad tidings of Thy 
love and praise Thee. 

Give us a constant sense of Thy presence ; and may all 
our undertakings be begun, continued, and ended in Thee, 
to the honour of Thy great name, for the sake of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 



H. THANKSGIVING. 

Let us give thanks for the Progress of the Gospel: 

Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive power 

And riches and wisdom and strength, 

And honour and glory and blessing : 

Blessed be Thy glorious Name, 

That Thy word hath sounded forth, 

Not only in Jerusalem, and Antioch, 

In Athens and in Eome, 

In London and in New York ; 

But in every place the faith of Christ 

Is spread abroad. 



All glory be to Thee. 



^44 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

For Thy good soldiers in every age, 

Striving lawfully, enduring unto the end ; 

For the wisdom of doctors, 

The zeal of evangelists, 

The eloquence of prophets, 
The love of pastors. 
For the praises of babes, the ministry of women, 
The purity of the young, the fervour of the aged, 

For all the signs of Thy presence, 
All the marks of Thy Cross : 

All glory be to Thee. 

For the light of Thy everlasting gospel, 

Sent to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 

Shining so long amongst ourselves ; 
For Thy Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, 
Against which the gates of hell have not prevailed; 

For Thy gracious word of promise, 

That they that be wise shall shine 

As the brightness of the firmament, 
And they that turn many to righteousness 
As the stars for ever and ever : 

All glory be to Thee. 

The Lord is gracious and merciful, 
Long-suffering, and of great goodness. 
The Lord is loving unto every man, 
And His mercy is over all His works. 
All Thy works praise Thee, Lord, 
And Thy Saints give thanks unto Thee. 
They show the glory of Thy kingdom, 
And talk of Thy power, 
That Thy power, Thy glory, and mightiness 
of Thy kingdom, 
Might be known unto men ; 
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
And Thy dominion endureth throughout all ages. 

All glory be to Thee. 



THANKSGIVING 245 

Great and marvellous are Thy works, 
Lord God Almighty ; 
Just and true are Thy ways, 
Thou King of Saints. 
Who shall not fear Thee, Lord, and glorify 
Thy Name ? 
For Thou only art holy ; 
For all nations shall come and worship before Thee ; 
For Thy judgments are made manifest. 

All glory be to Thee. 

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, 
Which no man could number, 
Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
Stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
Clothed with white robes, 
And palms in their hands ; 
And cried with a loud voice, saying, 
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, 
And unto the Lamb. 
Hallelujah ! 
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
Ghost ; 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, woiid 
without end. Amen. Amen. 



APPENDIX 



THE FINDING OF THE NESTORIAN TABLET 

The work of the Jesuit missionary, Alvarez Semedo, referred 
to on page 19, was translated into English and published in 
London in 165 5. 1 It is now so rare that we append that part 
of chapter 31, "Of the Christian Religion planted many Ages 
since" in China : and of a very ancient Stone lately discovered 
there, which is an admirable Testimonie thereof," which de- 
scribes the finding : — 

"When the Tartars conquered China there were many 
Christians who had sumptuous Churches, being much favoured 
by them, as appeareth by the relation of Paulus Venetus. After- 
ward when Humvu endeavoured to regaine the Kingdom, and 
made warre upon the Tartars, the Moores tooke part with the 
Chinesses, and lent them their assistance for the gaining of the 
Kingdom, and of the victory which they obtained, in acknow- 
ledgement whereof they were allowed to remaine in China, with 
libertie of their Religion and of their Mosches. The Christians 

1 "The History of that great and renowned Monarchy of China. 
Wherein all the particular Provinces are accurately described : as also the 
Dispositions, Manners, Learning, Lawes, Militia, Government, and 
Religion of the People. Together with the Traffick and Commodities of 
that Countrey. Lately written in Italian by F. Alvarez Semedo, a 
Portughess, after he had resided twenty two yeares at the Court, and other 
Famous Cities of that Kingdom. Now put into English by a Person of 
quality, and illustrated with several Mapps and Figures, to satisfie the 
curious, and advance the trade of Great Brittain. To which is added the 
History of the late Invasion and Conquest of that flourishiug Kingdom by 
the Tartars. With an exact Account of the other affairs of China, till 
these present times. London : Printed by E. Tyler for John Crook, and 
are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Ship in S. Pauls Church- 
yard, 1655." 



248 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

inclined to the Tartars, and they being overcome in that wane, 
the Christians also were deprived of their Estates, and some 
being slain, others changing their Religion, others flying and 
hiding themselves in secret places, in a short time, all signe and 
memory of our Eeligion perished, so that it was not possible for 
us to discover anything, with all the diligence we used to that 
purpose. 

" To conclude, we remained very disconsolate in the midst of 
so great darknesse, when it pleased The only fountaine of light 
to draw us out of this obscuritie with a most clear Testimony, that 
the Gospel had flourished there many ages since : The thing fell out 
thus. 

"In the year 1625, as they were digging the foundation for 
to erect a certain building neere to the City of Siganfu, the 
Capitall Citie of the Province of Xemsi, the workemen lighted 
upon a table of stone about nine palmes long, and more than 
foure in breadth, and above one palme in thicknesse. The top 
of it, (that is, one of the extremities, or ends, of the length 
thereof,) endeth in the forme of a Pyramid, above two palmes 
in height, and above one palmes breadth at the Basis. On the 
plaine of this Pyramid, there is a well form'd Crosse, the 
extremities whereof end in flower-deluces, after the fashion of 
that Crosse, which is reported to have been found graved on the 
Sepulchre of the Apostle S. Thomas in the Towne of Meliapor, 
and as they were anciently painted in Europe, of which there 
are some yet to be seen at this day. 

" This Crosse is encompassed, as it were, with certain clouds, 
and at the foot thereof were three Traverse lines, each consisting 
of three great letters, being all such as are commonly used in 
China, very fairly graven : with the same sort of letters is 
engraven the whole Superficies of the stone, as also the thicknesse 
thereof, the which notwithstanding differeth from the rest, in 
that some of the letters graven thereon, are forraine, neither 
were they known e here at the first finding of it. 

"Scarcely had the Chinesses discovered and cleansed this 
notable piece of Antiquitie, when excited by the fervour of their 
naturall curiosity, they ranne to the Governour to give him 
notice of it, who being much joyed at this newes, presently 
came to see it, and caused it to be placed upon a faire Pedestall, 
under a small Arch, sustained by pillars at each end thereof, 
and open at the sides, that it might be both defended from the 



APPENDIX 249 

injuries of the weather, and also feast the eyes of such as are 
true Lovers of venerable Antiquity. He caused it also to be set 
within the circuit of a Temple belonging to the Bond, not farre 
from the place where it was taken up. 

" There was a wonderfull concourse of people to see this stone, 
partly for the Antiquity thereof, and partly for the novelty of 
the strange Characters, which was to be seen thereon : and as 
the knowledge of our Eeligion is at this day very much spread 
abroad in China, a Gentile, who was a great friend unto a grave 
Christian Mandarine named Leo, being present there, presently 
understood the mystery of that writing, and believing it would 
be very acceptable to his friend, sent him a copy thereof, 
although he was distant above a month and a halfes voyage, the 
Mandarine dwelling in the City of Hamcheu, whither our 
fathers had retired themselves, by reason of the former per- 
secution, whereof we shall speak in its proper place. This copy 
was received with a spirituall Jubilee, and many exteriour 
demonstrations of joy, as an irrefragable Testimony of the 
Ancient Christianity in China, which had been so much desired 
and sought after : for no lesse was contained in this writing, as 
Ave shall shew anon. 

"Three years after in the year 1628 some of our fathers 
went into that Province in the company of a Christian Mandarine, 
who had occasion to go thither. They founded a Church and 
house in the capitall City thereof for the service of our good 
God, that he, who was pleased to discover so precious a 
memoriall of the possession taken in that Country by his divine 
law, would also facilitate the restitution thereof in the same 
place. It was my good fortune to be one of the first, and I 
esteemed it a happy abode, in that I had the opportunity to see 
the stone, and being arrived I took no thought for any thing 
else. I saw it and read it, and went often to read, behold, and 
consider it at leisure, and above all, I did much admire, that 
being so ancient, it should be so entire, and have the letters so 
plainly and neatly graven. 

" On the thicknes of the sides thereof, it hath many Chinesse 
letters, which containe many names of the Priests and Bishops 
of that time. There are also many other letters, which were 
not then knowne, for they are neither Hebrew nor Greek : and 
(for as much as I now understand) they containe the same 
names, that if peradventure some strangers might not under- 



250 THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 

stand the letters of the Countrie, they might perhaps be better 
acquainted with those of a forraigne extraction. 

"Passing by Cocchine I came to Cranganor, where is the 
Residence of the Archbishop of Costa, to consult about these 
letters with father Antoni Fernandes one of our societie, who is 
very skilfull in the books and writings of those ancient 
Christians converted by S. Thomas. He told me the letters 
were ISyriack, and the very same which are used there at this 
day." 

Further accounts of the Nestorian Tablet will be found in 
Nieuhoff's narrative of the Dutch East India Company's embassy 
to the Emperor of China in 1655, Englished by John Ogilby 
in 1673 (2nd ed.), and in Du Halde's Description of the Empire 
of China and Chinese Tartary, of which an English translation 
appeared in two folios in 1741. 



INDEX 



Abd-er-Rtjzzak, 42 

Abdul Masih, 225 

Abel-Remusat, 19 

Abgarus, 16 

Aboriginal peoples of India, 218 

Abrahamic centuries, 2 

Abulfazl, 70 

Adam of China, 23 

Aden, 14 

Adule, 28 

Afghan wars, 144 

Africa's conversion, 2 

Agra, 73 

Agriculture in India, 103 

Ain-i-Akbari, 70 

Aitcbison, Sir C. U., 133, 157, 186 

Akbar, 70 

Albuquerque, 48 

Aldeen, 98 

Alexander the Great, 10 

Alexandria, 10 

Allahabad, 139 

Almeida, 48 

Alopan, 21 

Amboyna, 77 

American Oriental Society, 19 

independence, 84 

missions, 126, 132, 134 143, 

145, 150, 152, 158, 160 
Amerigo Vespucci, 46 
Anastasius of Sinai, 14 
Anderson, John, 109 
Andrewes, Bishop, 235 
Animists in India, 201 
Antioch, 10 
Arcot, 165 
Arghun Khan, 36 
Arian heresy, 5, 32 



Armenia, 34 

Arnobius, 17 

Arnold, Sir E., 207 

Aryan family, 3, 116, 143 

Arya Somaj, 220 

Asia, population and area, 196, 199 

Aungier, 90 

Ava, 152 

Badley, Dr., 158 

Bahadoor Shah, 137 

Bahar, 211 

Baines, J. A, 208 

Baldseus, 78 

Balkh, 23 

Banerji, K. C, 221 

Bannerjea, K. M., 136 

Bartholomew, 14 

Barygaza, 8 

Barzoi, 25 

Basel Missionary Society, 132 

Bateman, Rev. R., 219, 232 

Beliarte, 49 

Benares, 228 

Bengal, 'l59, 211 

Bentinck, Lord W., 135, 231 

Berenice, 14 

Bernard, Sir C, 157, 191 

Bernier, 89 

Beschi, 69 

Best 38 

Bettia, 73 

Bidpai, 25 

Bible translation, 133, 180 

Birdwood, Sir George, 83, 88 

Blochmann, 71 

Bojador, Cape, 43 

Bombay, 143 



252 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Bombay Conference, 212, 227 

Boniface, 5 

Borgia, Alexander, 48 

Boston, 155 

Boughton, Dr., 96 

Brahmanism, 6, 22, 134, 167, 219, 

220 
Brahma Somaj, 219 
Brainerd, David, 149 

John, 149 

Bridgman, Dr., 19 

Britto, 68 

Broach, 8, 39 

Brown, David, 97 

Bruce, Dr., 232 

Bryce's American Commonwealth, 

146 
Buchanan, Claudius, 9, 94, 107 
Buddhism, 5, 22, 76, 153, 207, 211 
Buddhists in India, 201 
Burgess, Dr., 24 
Burma, 134, 157 
Burmese wars, 144 
Burnell, Dr., 24 

Cabral, 49 

Calcutta, 92 

Caldwell, Bishop, 136, 217 

Calicut, 48 

Calvin, 53, 128 

Cambaluc, 34 

Cambridge University, 111 

Campbell, Colin, 142 

Canada Presbyterian Church, 144 

Cannanor, 9 

Canning, Lord, 114 

Carey, William, 43, 95, 128, 134, 

150, 198 
Caste in missions, 131 
Casteless tribes, 218 
Castell, W., 148 
Castlereagh, Lord, 108 
Cathay, 34 
Cawnpore, 138 
Ceylon, 9, 37, 76, 132, 207 
Chalmers, Thomas, 129 
Chambers, William, 96 
Chaplains, 203 

in India, 92 

Charters, East India, 84, 106, 203 
Cheek, Ensign, 139 
Chera, 10 



Child, Sir John, 90 
China, 62, 250 
Chinese rites, 67 
Chinghiz Khan, 33 
Chinsurah, 78 
Chola, 10 
Chooras, 218, 233 
Chota Nagpore, 218 
Christian centuries, 2 

Literature Society, 143 

Christians in the world, 197 

in India, 201 

Christendom's message to the East, 

116 
Church, Dean, 216 
Church Missionary Society, 131, 

161 
Churches working in India, 161 
Cities of India, 209 
Clapham sect, 98 
Clark, Dr. H. M., 223 
Clark, R, 186 
Clement, 12 
Clive, Lord, 94, 101 
Cochin, 9, 49', 250 
Code, Theodosian, 110 

Penal, of India, 122 

Coimbator, 10 

Coimbra, 54 

Coke, Dr., 132 

Coleridge, H. J., 52 

Colonisation and missions, 3, 8 

Columba, 5 

Columbus, Christopher, 5, 9, 11 

43, 168 
Colvin, Sir A, 158 
Comorin, Cape, 144 
Comparative Grammar, 4 
Connecticut, 146 
Conti, 42 
Cop, 53 
Coptos, 14 

Cornwallis, Marquis of, 98 
Corrie, Bishop, 98 
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 27 
Cotton, Bishop, 63, 118, 235 
Cranganor, 8, 19, 49 
Cromwell, 90, 148 
Crusades, 33 
Cust, R N., 110, 117 

Dalhousie, Marquis of, 125, 204 



INDEX 



253 



Daniel's vision, 6 

Darien expedition, 148 

Day, Francis, 78 

Day, L. B., 181 

Dayanand Saraswati, 220 

Decennial Conference, 212 

Delaware, 146 

Demonolatry, 5 

Denmark, 95, 127, 130 

Derby, Earls of, 113 

Diamper Synod, 66 

Didaskaleion, 13 

Dion Chrysostom, 13 

Divorce Act for native Christians, 125 

Dominic, 33 

Downes, Dr., 144 

Dravidians, 5 

Du Halde, 250 

Dubois, Abbe, 64, 74 

Duff College, 136 

Dr. A., 109, 129, 152, 231 

Dufferin, Marquis, 204 
Dundas, H., 99, 129 
Durand, Sir Henry. 152 
Dutch Republic, 49, 76 

East India Company, 77, 146 

West India Company, 145 

missions, 78, 146, 207 

East India Company, 83, 88, 99, 

110 
Eclipse in India, 103 
Edessa, 16 

Education in India, 108, 117, 121 
in missions, 131, 136, 163, 

183, 193 
Edwardes, Sir H., 110, 118 
Edwards, Jonathan, 149 
Eliot, John, 47, 147 
Elliot, Sir C, 159, 211 
Elphinstone, M., 109 

Lord, 109 

Empress of India, 113 

English language in India, 101, 109 

Epigraphic evidence, 18 

Epiphanins of Salamis, 37 

Ernakolam, 49 

Establishment, ecclesiastical, 106, 

109 
Estrangelo characters, 18 
Ethiopia, 11 
Eusebius, 12, 16 



Eutychian doctrine, 30 

Fabeb, F. W., 52 
Famine, Bengal, 100 
Faria e Sousa, 65 
Fartask, Cape, 9 
Fayum, 12 
Formosa, 77 

Forsyth, missionary, 127 
Fort William College, 107 
Francis of Assisi, 33 

Xavier, see Xavier 

Sir Philip, 94 

Fraser, A. H. L., 190 
Free Church of Scotland, 189 
Frere, Sir Bartle, 109, 157 
Friend of India newspaper, 115 
Friends, Society of, 143 

Gades, 30 

Genoa, 48 

Geography and missions, 42, 194 

George L, 127 

German missions, 130, 163 

Ghazipore, 112 

Gibbon, 27, 30 

Glenelg, Lord, 99, 111 

Goa, 51, 63 

Gogerly, 207 

Golconda, 37 

Goluk Nath, 151 

Gopinath Nundy, 151 

Gordon, G. Maxwell, 144 

Gordon-Cumming, Miss C. F., 207 

Gouvea, 65 

Grant, Charles, 96 

Sir Robert, 99, 157 

Greek attempt in India, 8 

philosophy, 12 

Grotius, 76 
Guanahani, 43 
Gundert, 132 
Guntoor, 158 
Gwalior, 73 

Haidarabad, 210 
Haldanes, The, 128 
Hall, missionary, 155, 157 
Hamilton, Alexander, 93 

Dr., 96 

Hardy, Spence, 267 
Harris, Lord, 157 



254 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Harvard University, 147 
Hastings, Warren, 94, 107 
Havelock, General, 142 
Hawkins, 88 
Hayti, 45 
Hay ton, 34 
Heber, Bishop, 225 
Hebich, 132 
Henderson, A., 148 
Henry the Navigator, 43 
Herbert, Sir T. , 89 
Hinduism, the new, 221 
Hindus, 101, 201, 219 
Hippalus, 9 
Hislop, 121 
Hodges, Bishop, 26 
Hope, SirT. C, 201 
Horton, A., 149 
Hough, J., 75, 131 
Human race, 197 
Hwen Tsang, 22 

Ibn Wahab, 18 

Batuta, 42 

Imad-ud-Din, Dr., 181, 222 
India, 11, 116, 195, 199, 209 
India's conversion, 2, 6, 116, 234 
Indo-European family, 3 
Inglis, John, 110 

Rev. Dr., 129 

Inquisition, 50, 64 
Inscriptions, 21 
Intercession, forms of, 236 

daily, 235 

Interlopers, 88 

Intolerance, true, 215 

Inverness, 98 

Iran, 4 

Irish Presbyterian Church, 143 

Isaiah, 143 

Islam, the new, 221 

Jacobite creed, 67 

Jahangir, 88 

Jains, 201 

Japan, 11, 65 

Java, 77 

Jerome, 12 

Jerusalem, 9 

Jesuit missionaries, 19, 52, 54, 68, 

193 
Jews, 8, 201 



Jeynarain's college, 98 
Johannes of Persia, 15 
John of Piano Carpini, 34 

of Monte Corvino, 38 

Hector de Britto, 68 

Jordanus, 38 

Joseph the Iudian, 49 

Judson, A., Ill, 129, 151, 174, 204 

his wives, 152 

Kafristan, 144 
Kalilah and Dimnah, 25 
Kalyau, 9, 157 
Karens, 118, 157 
Kathiawar, 143 
Keeling, 88 

Keith-Falconer, Ion, 26 
Kerala, 10 
Kerridge, 89 
Kiernander, 97 
King-tsing, 21 
Kircher, 19 
Klaproth, 19 
Koordistan, 30 
Koran, 222 
Kottayam, 18, 25 
Krishna Pal, 136 

Mohun Bannerjea, 136 

Kublai Khan, 35 

Lake, General, 110 

Lancaster, 88 

La Croze, 65 

La Rabida, 44 

Las Casas, 44 

Lawrence, Henry, 153, 158 

John, 1st Lord, 110, 118, 

176 
Lescke, 89 
Leyden University, 77 

city, 147 

Lignitz, 33 

Lindsay, Dr. T. M., 189 

Literature for native Christians. 

179 
Livingstone, David, 3, 86 
London Missionary Society, 131, 

150 
Lord, Henry, 89 
Lowrie, J. C., 150 
Loyola, 53 
Lucknow, 158 



INDEX 



255 



Lull, Kaymund, 33 

Luther, 5, 47 

Lyall, Sir A., 87, 169 

Macaulat, 105, 122, 231 
Mackay, Dr. W. S., 69 
Mackichan, Dr., 188 
Mackinnon, Sir W., 86 
Mackintosh, Sir James, 109 
M'Leod, Sir D., 119 
Macleod, Sir J. M., 122 

Dr. Norman, 185, 232 

Madras, 229 

Nestorian inscriptions, 18 

Christian College, 30, 230 

Madura, 10, 131 

Maine, Sir Henry S., 85, 123 

Malabar coast, 9 

rites, 67 

Malaysia, 11 
Malcolm, Sir John, 108 
Mandalay, 144 
Mandelslo, 70 
Mangalor, 9 
Manhattan Island, 145 
Mani, 24 
Manichseans, 24 
Mansilla, 59 
Marathas, 157 
Marchena, 44 
Marsh, C, 108 
Marshman, Joshua, 95, 134 

Hannah, 96 

John Clark, 107, 121 

Martyn, Henry, 64, 98, 129, 225 
Martyrs of Thana, 41 

evangelical Christian, 138 

Masih, Abdul, 225 

Masters, Streynsham, 90 

Max Miiller, 170 

Medical missions, 96, 163, 179, 

205 
Megapolensis, J., 146 
Menchacha, 52 
Menezes, 49, 65 
Merv, 15 
Methodist Episcopal Church, 143, 

158 
Methods, missionary, 133, 172 
Michaelius, J., 146 
Middleton, 88 
Bishop, 185 



Miesrob, 16 

Mill, J. S., 87 

Miller, Dr. W., 188, 230 

Mills, S. J., 151 

Missionaries, Nestorian, 17 

Roman, 57, 72 

Reformed, 206 

their call, 172 

the most famous in India, 175 

prayer for, 240 

Missionary methods, 80, 96, 133, 

166, 172, 206, 212, 219, 233 

prospects, 135, 215 

societies and churches in 

India, 161 

geography, 194, 210 

statistics, 198, 200, 209, 217, 

218 

appeals, 211, 212 

committees and secretaries, 

241 
Mitchell, Donald, 130 
Moegling, 132 
Mohammedan statistics, 221 

controversy, 227 

Mohammedanism, 1, 17, 120, 138, 

201, 205 
Mongols, 33 

Monier- Williams, Sir M., 215 
Monophysite doctrine, 15 
Monroe, President, 150 
Monsoon winds, 9 
Montgomery, Sir R., 110 
Moravian missions, 143, 163 
More, Hannah, 105 
Moses Chorenensis, 16 
Moulavi, Lyakut Ali, 138 
Moung Nan, 157 
Mozoomdar, 220 
Muir, John, 109, 215 

Sir William, 109, 185 

Mullens, Dr., 137, 203 
Munro, Sir Thomas, 108 
Murdoch, Dr., 179 
Mushin-ul-Mulk, Nawab, 222 
Mutazala sect, 222 
Mutiny in India, 39, 117, 138 
Muziris, 9 

Nana Dhoondopant, 137 
Nan, Moung, 157 
Naoroji, D., 137 



256 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Napier and Ettrick, Lord, 165 
Narowal, 232 
National congress, 232 
Native Christians, 229 
Navalkar, G., 181 
Navarre, 53 
Nazaraui, 10, 39 
Neander, 13, 19 
Negroes, 127 
Nelkynda, 9 
Nepal, 71, 210 
* Nepean, Sir E., 157 
Nesbit, Robert, 130 
Nestorian doctrine, 15, 67 

tablet, 18, 247 

missionaries, 17, 68, 157 

martyrs, 27, 157 

Nestorius, 15 

Newell, 152 

New England Corporation, 148 

New Netherlands, 146 

Newman, H. S., 230 

Newton, John, 96, 107 

John, Punjab, 150 

Nicene Council, 15 
Nicolas of Vicenza, 36 
Nicolson, General, 142 
Nieuhoff, 250 
Nikitin, 42 
Nisibis, 16 
Northern nations, 1 
Nott, 152, 157 
Nundy, Gopinath, 136 

Occom, S., 149 
Odoricus, 38, 41 
Ogilby, John, 250 
Olcott, 207 
Origen, 12 
Oudh, 143 

Outram, General, 142 
Owen, John, 148 
Oxenden, 90 

Padmanji, B., 181 
Pah-gan, 154 
Pahlavi, 24 
Palakollu, 78 
Palmerston, Lord, 233 
Pandya, 10 
Pantaenus, 11 
Pantheism, 216 



Pariahs, 218 

Parker, Dr. E. W., 188 

Parsees, 16, 137 . 
Patriarchates, 10 
Patrick, 5 
Pax Evangelica, 86 
Peacock, Sir Barnes, 128 
Pegu, 156 
Peking, 34 
Persian crosses, 24 
Phayre, Sir A., 157 
Philadelphia, 159 
Philostorgius, 15 
Photius, 8 

Pilgrim Fathers, 147 
Pitt, William, 105, 129 
Pittsburg Synod, 150 
Pliitschau, 95 
Plymouth Rock, 145 
Polo, Marco, 11, 36 

Nicolas Maffeo, 35 

Population of World, 196 

of India, 209 

Portugal, 48, 73, 207 
Prayer, 149, 174, 177, 236 
Preaching to Hindus, 178 
Pressense, 13 
Prester John, 34 
Prince Consort, 113, 142 
Proclamation, Queen's India, 113 
Provinces of India, 209 
Ptolemy, 10, 28 
Punjab University, 109 

statistics, 217 

church, 232 

Puritans, 147 

Queen-Empress Victoria, 113 

Quetta, 144 
Quilon, 39 

Rae, Dr. M., 26 
Rajagriha, 22 
Rajgarh, 120 

Rajpootana, 143, 191, 210 
Ramnad, 132 
Ramsay, Sir H., 186 
Ravenstein, Mr. E., 196 
Red Indians, 127, 146, 149 
Rede Lecture, Maine's, 124 
Reed, W., 150 
Reformation of the Church, 1 



INDEX 



257 



Reformation Churches, 4 
Reformed (Dutch) Church in 

America, 164 
Renwick the martyr, 148 
Revolution, silent, in India, 227 
Ricci, 69 
Rice, 155 
Richards, 155 
Ripou, Lord, 122 
Rites, Malabar and Chinese, 67 
Robert de Nobilibus, 68 
Robinson of Ley den, 147 
Robson, Dr. John, 210, 220 
Roe, Sir T. , 89 
Rohilkhund, 143 
Roman Empire, 1 

Church, 32, 38 

Rose, General Hugh, 142 
Rouse, missionary, 188 
Rubruquis, 34 

Sadharan Brahma Somaj, 228 

Salbank, 89 

Salem, 10 

Salisbury, Professor, 18 

San Salvador, 45 

Santo Stefano, 42 

Saracens, 32 

Sargent, John, 149 

Satiyanadan, 131 

Schultze, 128 

Schwartz, 95, 100, 128 

Science and missions, 42, 103 

Scott, T., 105 

Scottish missions, 130, 148, 149, 

189 

Church Disruption, 130 

United Presbyterian Church, 

143 

Original Secession Church, 143 

Scudder family, 132, 164 
Seelye, Miss, 164 
Seleucia-Ctesiphon, 17 
Seleucus, 10, 16 
Sell, Rev. E., 222 
Semedo, A., 19, 247 
Sen, Kesbub Chunder, 220 
Sepoys and Christianity, 117 
Serampore, 95, 135 
Serapeum, 13 
Seringham, 112 
Severus, 15 



Shariat law, 222 

Shen-ah-rah-han, 154 

Sherring, M. A., 136 

Shields, M., 148 

Shoolbred, Dr., 143 

Sialkot, 217 

Sikhs, 110, 118, 151, 201, 217 

Sikkim, 210 

Simeon, Charles, 98 

Si-ngan-fu, 18 

Sirdhana, 73 

Slater, F. E., 227 

Slave trade, 45 

Smith, R. P., 108 

Sydney, 108, 128 

Baird, 142 

Societies working in India, 161 
Society for Propagation of Gospel, 

131, 161 
for Promoting Christian 

Knowledge, 131 

London Missionary, 131, 161 

Church Missionary, 131, 161 

Basel, 132, 162 

Sokotra, 11, 29, 37 
Solyman the Magnificent, 48 
Sooraj-ood-Dowlah, 93 
Southey, 128 
Squanto the Indian, 147 
States of India, 209 
Stephen, Sir James, 51, 57 

Sir Fitz-James, 123 

Stokes, Whitley, 123 

Stuart, G. H., 159 

Sumatra, 77 

Sumner, Archbishop, 235 

Surat, 39 

Syagros, 9 

Syed, Amir Ali, 222 

Syriac, 10, 24 

Syrian Christians, 16, 26, 80 

Tae-tsung, Emperor, 22 

Tamil Bible, 128 

Tang dynasty, 23 

Tangut, 35 

Taprobane, 28 

Tartars, 33 

Tavoy, 155 

Teignmouth, Lord, 94, 108 

Telugu country, 37 

Tennent, Sir E., 76 



258 



THE CONVERSION OF INDIA 



Terry, Chaplain, 89 
Thana, Four Martyrs of, 41 
Thanksgiving for the progress of 

the gospel, 243 
Thebaid, 14 

Theodore of Antioch, 17 
Theodosian Code, 110 
Theophilus Indicus, 15 
Thibet, 210 
Thomas the Apostle, 26, 250 

John, 96 

Thomason, J., 109, 126 

Chaplain, 133 

Thomson, Sir R., 157 

Thornton, Henry, 107 

Timotheus the Nestorian, 18 

Tinnevelli, 10 

Tirumala, 68 

Toleration, 88, 110, 115, 119, 226 

Toscanelli, 43 

Tournon, Cardinal, 70 

Towns of India, 209 

Townsend, M., 115 

Trade winds, 9 

Tranquebar, 95 

Travankor, 210 

Trevelyan, Si: C, 231 

Tucker, R. T., 138 

Miss, A.L.O.E., 138 

Turanians, 17 
Tuticorin, 55 
Tweeddale, Marquis of, 109 

Udiampoor, 49 

Udny, George, 96 

United States of America, 3, 84, 

115, 128, 145, 157, 240 
Universities in India, 109 

Vahl, Dean, 198 
Valentyn, 80 
Valle, 70 
Vanderkemp, 77 
Van Mekelenburg, 146 
Varthema, L., 42 
Vasco da Gama, 48 
Venice, 48 



Venn, Henry, 52 

Victoria, Queen and Empress, 113 

Vijayanagar, 42 

Villages of India, 209 

Vishnu worship, 215 

Vizagapatam, 72 

Voltaire, 19, 69 

Walrus, 77 

Ward, 95, 180 

Washington, George, 95 

Wellesley, Marquis, 94 

Wenlock, Lord, 157 

Wesley, S., 132 

Wesley an Missionary Society, 132 

Whitefield, 149 

Wiclif, 5 

Wilberforce, 105 

William III., 85, 92 

William of Tripoli, 36 

Williams, S. W., 24 

Dr. Daniel, 149 

Dr. A., 23 

Williamson, Dr. A., 23 
Wilson, John, 109, 121, 137, 178, 
192 

H. H., 170 

Wiseman, Cardinal, 74 
Woman's work in India, 205 
World, population and area, 196 

religions, 197 

Wrangham, F., Ill 
Wrede, F., 24 
Wylie, A., 19 
Macleod, 208, 210 

Xaviee, Francis, 49, 64, 154 
Jerome, 70 

Yemen, 13, 111 

Yule, Sir Henry, 4, 20, 36 

Yunan, 36 

Zanzibar, 11 
Zayton, 37 

Zeir-ed-deen Mukhdom, 66 
Ziegenbalg, 95, 128, 173 
Zoroastrians in India, 201 



A SELECTION FROM 

Fleming H. Revell Company's 

CATALOGUE 



Books of Travel and Research 

Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, 1881-1891, by ^. 

M. Flinders Petrie. With a map and 116 illustra- 
tions. i2mo., cloth $1.50 

"The book has a special interest in the confirmation and the 
illustration it affords as to the high condition of civilization 
existing in a land so intimately interwoven with Biblical history. 
The narrative is pleasantly written, and the illustrations are not 
only admirably executed, but greatly help us in realizing what 
they represent." — N. Y. Observer. 
"Mr. W. M. F. Petrie, the well-known Egyptologist, has pre- 

{>ared a concise popularization of the results of his scholarly 
abors— its clear and compact pages are those of a trustworthy 
authority— the story told is really fascinating." — 5. S. Times. 

The Ainu of Japan. The Religion, Superstitions- 
and General History of the Hairy Aborigines of 
Japan, by Rev. John Batchelor. With 80 illustra- 
tions. 8vo., cloth $1.50 

"The author has a subject seldom treated in our literature and 
he communicates his rather exclusive information in fascinating 
and instructive fashion. His style is very vivid."— Golden Rule. 
"The Ainu are the aborigines of Japan, and now number 
only some sixteen or seventeen thousand. This record of their 
character and customs is effectively given, and the text is sup- 
plemented by numerous engravings,"— TV. W. Christian. Advo- 
cate. 

A Winter in North China, by Rev. T. M. Morri9. 
With introduction by Rev. R. Glover, D. D., and a 
map. i2mo., cloth $1.50 

"Contains much matter of general interest, and many 
pleasant sketches of China and the Chinese. An intelligent, 
recent and grandly encouraging report." — The Independent. 

The Story of Uganda, and the Victoria Nyanza 
Mission. By S. G. Stock. With a map and illus- 
trations. i2mo., cloth .$1.25 

"The Story of Mackay is given with fulness and power; 
there are added also the stories of the martyr Bishop Hanning- 
ton and his fateful journey, and of Bishops Parker and Tucker, 
♦f the other mission, together with a sketch of these missions 
under the brutal King Mwanga since Mackay's untimely 
death."— The Golden Rule. 

The Fifth Gospel. The Land where Jesus Lived. 
By Rev. J. M. P. Otts, LL. D. With 4 maps. i2tno., 

cloth $1. 25 

"Whatever other books one may have read on Palestine, he 
will find new pleasure and instruction from the perusal of this 
one."— Central Presbyterian. 

For list of "By-Paths of Bible Knowledge," see special 
catalogue. 

Complete fist of flissionary Books sent free on application. 

aaioAoo. Fleming H. Revell Company. «sw to*» 



Books of Illustration. 



For Pulpit and Platform; for Preachers and Teachers. 

5eed Corn for the Sower; or, Thoughts, Themes 
and Illustrations, for Pulpit and Platform and for 
Home Readings, by Rev. C. Perrin, Ph. D. i2mo., 
cloth $1.50 

Although no less than two hundred authors have been drawn 
upon to supply the material for this work, it is believ.d that the 
great mass of illustrative matter will be found entirely new and 
fresh — embracing nearly 400 pages of original and carefully 
selected illustrative excerpts covering a wide range of subjects. 
"To teachers and all engaged in Bibleinstruction.it will 
prove a volume of great help and usefulness and furnish ready 
to their hand many a nail with which to fasten in a sure place 
the truths they may desire to drive home." — The Christian at 
Work. 

Feathers for Arrows; or, Illustrations for Preachers 
and Teachers, by Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon. 
i2mo., cloth c $1.00 

"The work covers a wide range of subjects.. The metaphors 
are always striking and frequently brilliant, while the truths 
that they illustrate are such as have always formed the staple 
of Mr. Spurgeon's discourses. A choicer collection of illustra- 
tions we do not know." — The Freeman. 

Spurgeon's Gems. Being Brilliant Passages from 
his Discourses. i2mo., cloth $1.00 

A series of earnest thoughts and graphic pictures, all of 
them revealing the true greatness of the preacher's concep- 
tions, his individuality and strength. Gems of great brilliancy, 
which will make a permanent impression upon the mind of the 
reader. ( 

Gleanings Among the 'Sheaves, by Rev. C. H. 

Spurgeon. Cloth, gilt top $ .60 

"These extracts are quite Spurgeonic — racy, rich and rare, 
both as to style and matter; full of exquisite consolation, faith 



ful advice, clear analogies, poetic touches, and glorious old 
gospel. We do not wonder that eight thousand copies were 
sold on the day of publication and trust that eight times eighty 



thousand will find their way to the religious pwblic." — Weekly 
Review. 

Scripture Itself the Illustrator: A manual of illus- 
trations gathered from scriptural figures, phrases, 
types, derivations, chronology, texts, etc., by Rev. 
G. S. Bowes. i2tno., cioth $1-25 

Information and Illustrations for Preachers and 
Teachers. Helps gathered from facts, figures, anec- 
dotes and books, for sermons, lectures and ad- 
dresses, by Rev. G. S. Bowes. i2tno., cloth. .$1.25 

oucmmx fleming H. Revell Company, mrc ?o«x 



SECOND EDITION, MORE FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 

Kin=da=shon's Wife. 

AN ALASKAN STORY. 
BY MRS. EUGENE S. WILLARD, 

Home Missionary to A laska of the Presbyterian Board, 
amo. Illustrated. Cloth. $1.50 



" Being a close observer and in deep sympathy with the 
native population in their struggles towards a Christian Civil- 
ization, Mrs. Willard has gained a more intelligent knowl- 
edge of their character, of their needs and hindrances, than 
perhaps any other person ; so that when a distinguished 
Committee of United States Senators visited Alaska to in- 

?uire into the condition of the natives, she was applied to 
or a paper on the subject, and her paper on ' Needed legis- 
lation for the protection of Native Children,' was the most 
discriminating, faithful and ablfl one received."— Dr. Sheldon 
Jackson. 



PRESS NOTICES. 
The Living Church : 

" The revelations of the idolatry and customs of the abori- 
gines are unique, and therefore, especially entertaining to the 
student of human nature." 
The Congregationalist : 

"Possesses permanent value as a faithful and comprehensive 
portrayal of the social and moral condition of the natives, and 
describes them picturesquely, both as they are and as they 
have been." 

The New York Observer : 

"The longing of famished souls for the bread of life is told 
with pathos, and prominence is given to the success of mission- 
ary work rather than to its terrible isolation and varied trials." 
The Christian Inquirer: 

" A vivid picture of life in Alaska. The story is an interest- 
ing one. and shou'd prove an incentive to help forward the 
evangelization of that Territory." 
Public Opinion : 

" From beginning to end the book holds one's closest atten- 
tion. Interesting as a story as well asjn the facts presented." 
The Christian Intelligencer : 

'" The storv is pathetic and powerful, because true. If it but 
arouse the country and the Church to the call of duty and of 
God, it well accomplish a glorious mission." 

For sale by all Booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt oj 
price, by the publishers. 

Fleming H. Revell Company. 

New York: 112 Fifth Avenue. 
Chicago : 148 & 150 Madison Street. 



Glances at China. 

BY 

REV. GILBERT REID, M.A., 

Of the 

American Presbyterian Church, 

Chi-nan-fu. 

Profusely Illustrated. 

smo. Illuminated Cloth Covers. 80 Cents. 

The author, who is a missionary of the Presbyterian 
Board of Foreign Missions of the U.S.A., has had unusual 
opportunities for ascertaining the true condition of the 
Chinese. That he has made good use of these opportunities, 
is attested by the very numerous commendatory notices 
which have been given to this book by American, English 
and Chinese papers. A few of these are appended. 



COMMENDATIONS. 
The Spectator: 

'• Introduces us to a highly interesting subject. . . . On 
the whole, Mr. Reid's experiences, have, it seems, been favour- 
able. He found the Chinese disposed to discuss the question 
of Christianity calmly and with interest." 

The North China Herald and Daily News, {Shangai) : 

"This prettily bound volume of 191 pages is, for its size, one 
of the best books on China we have seen for some time. . . . 
There is little generalization, but a direct, candid record of the 
author's own experiences, the experiences of a man of unusual 
common sense and good powers of observation." 

The New York Evangelist: 

"Shows a familiar acquaintance with the history, life, and 
customs of China, and conveys just the information the reader 
wants. The author has the happy art of condensing his facts, 
and he gives his own experiences in a bright and graphic way." 

The Interior, {Chicago) : 

"Very informally and entertaingly written, abundantly illus- 
trated, and is a first-rate book." 

For sale by all Booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price 
by the publishers. 

Fleming H. Revell Company. 

New York: 112 Fifth Avenue. 
Chicago : 148 & 150 Madison Street. 



The Fifth Gospel 

The Land Where Jesus Lived 

BY 

J. M. P. OTTS, D.D., LL.D. 



Fully Illustrated 

Cloth $1.25 



This book, as the title indicates, is a care- 
ful study of the four written Gospels in the 
lights and shades of the land where Jesus 
lived and taught. When they are thus stud- 
ied it is found that the land so harmonizes 
with them, and so unfolds and elucidates 
their meaning, that it forms around them, as 
it were, a fifth Gospel. 



" It presents a vivid picture of Bible scenery and 
a safe and sound thinker's illumination of many 
Scripture texts by the light of travel."— Christian 
Thought. 

"A book of great ability and vivacity that will 
arouse much interest and elicit much thoughtful 
discussion." — Christian Observer. 

"A charming and instructive volume that ex- 
hibits keen observation and critical power." — Pres- 
byterian Journal. 

"Whatever other books one may have read on 
Palestine, he will find new pleasure and instruc- 
tion from the perusal of this." — Central Presby- 
terian. 

" This book is really inspiring."— The Baptist. 

Sent postpaid on receipt of price 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

New York, 112 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago, 148 & 150 Madison Street 



NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION ILLUSTRATED. 



JOHN G. PATON, 

MISSIONARY TO THE NEW HEBRIDES. 
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

EDITED BY HIS BROTHER. 

With an Introduction by ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D. 
Two vols, in box, i2mo, cloth, gilt top net $2.00. 



{Ministerial Gommettoatfon, 
** I have just laid down the most robust and the most 
fascinating piece of autobiography that I have met 
with in many a day. . . . John G. Paton was made 
of the same stuff with Livingstone."— Theodore L. 
Cuyler, D.D. 

" I consider it unsurpassed in missionary biography. 
In the whole course of my extensive reading on these 
topics, a more stimulating, inspiring, and every way 
first-class book has not fallen into my hands. Every- 
body ought to read it." — Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. 

/IDtssfonar^ Ipraise. 

" I have never read a romance that was half so 
thrilling." — Lucius C. Smith, Guanajuato, Mexico. 

" I have ne-er read a more inspiring biography." — 
Thomas C. Winn, Yokohama, Japan. 

" The Lord's work will not go back while there are 
such men as he in the church."— -James A. Heal, Sing 
Kong, Ckeh Kiang, China. 

"I think I have never had greater pleasure in read- 
ing any book." — R. Thackswell, Dehra, North India* 

press Notices. 

" Perhaps the most important addition for many 
years to the library of missionary literature is the auto- 
biography of John G. Paton. ' '— The Christian A dvocate. 

"We commend to all who would advance the cause 
of Foreign Missions this remarkable autobiography. 
It stands with such books as those Dr. Livingstone 
gave the world, and shows to men that the heroes of 
the cross are not merely to be sought in past ages." 
— The Christian Intelligencer. 



Fleming H. Revell Company, 

bEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO 



By Paths of 3ib' e K now l e d£ e 



12mo. Cloth. 



" The volumes which are being issued under the above 
title fully deserve success. They have been entrusted^to 
scholars who have z special acquaintance with the sub- 
jects about which they severally treat."— The A thenceum. 

i. Cleopatra's Needle. By the Rev. J. King. With Illustra- 
tions I.OO 

2. Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. By A. H. 

Sayce, LL.D. With Facsimiles from Photographs . 1.20 

3. Recent Discoveries on the Temple HilB ct Jerusalen. By 

the Rev. J. King, M.A. With Ma;s, Plans and Illustra- 
tions 1.00 

4* Babylonian Life and History. ByE.A.Walli Budge, M.A. 
Illustrated 1.20 

5. Galilee in the Time of Christ. By Selah Merrill, D.D. 

With a Map 1.00 

6. Egypt and Syria. By Sir J. W. Dawson, F.G.S., F.R.S. 

Second Edition, revised and enlarged. With many Illus- 
trations 1.20 

7. Assyria : its Princes, Priests, and People. By A. H. 

Say^e, M.A., LL.D. Fully Illustrated 1.20 

8. Th, . wellers on the Nile. By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A. 

Fully Illustrated 1.20 

9. The Diseases on the Bible. By Sir J. Risdon Bennett. . 1.00 

10. The Trees and Plants mentioned in the Bible. By W. H. 

Grosser, B.Sc. Illustrated ... 1.20 

11. Animals of the Bible. By H. Chichester Hart. With 

Illustrations 1.20 

12. The Hittites ; or, The Story of a Forgotton Empire. By 

A. H. Sayce, LL.D. Illustrated 1.00 

13. The Times of Isaiah. By A. H. Sayce, LL.D 80 

14. Modern Discoveries on the e of Ancient Ephesus. By 

the late J. T. Wood, F.S. . Fully Illustrated 1.00 

15. Early Bible Songs. By A. H. Drysdale, M.A 1.00 

16. Races of the Old Tectament. By A. H. Sayce, M.A., 

LL.D. Illustrations from Photographs by Mr. Flinders 
Petrie 1.20 

17. Life and Times of Joseph in the Light of Egyptian Lore. 

By Rev. H. G. Tomkins, M.A 1.00 

18. Social Life Among the Assyrians and Babylonians. By 

A. H. Sayce, M. A., LL.D. 121110., cloth 1.00 

19. The Early Spread of Religious Ideas, especially in the 

Far East. By Dr. Edkins. i2mo., cloth 1.20 

20. The Growth and Development of the English Printed 

Bible. By Richard Lovett, M.A. Illustrated by many 
facsimiles. i2mo., cloth 1.20 



Fleming H. Revell Company 

New York Chicago Toronto 



NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION. 

Bible History 

BY 

Rev. ALFRED EDERSHEIM, D.D., Ph.D. 

12M0. CLOTH. 

7 Volnmes Each, $1.00 The Set, Boxed, $6.00 



i The World Before the Flood, and History of the 
Patriarchs. 

2 The Exodus and Wanderings in the Wilderness. 

3 Israel in Canaan Under Joshua and the Judges. 

4 Israel Under Samuel, Saul and David, to the Birth 

of Solomon. 

5 Israel and Judah from the Birth of Solomon to 

the Reign of Ahab. 

6 Israel and Judah from Ahab to the Decline of 

the Two Kingdoms. 

7 Israel and Judah from the Decline of the Two 

Kingdoms to the Assyrian and Babylonian 
Captivity. Containing Full Scripture Refer- 
ences and Subject Indexes to the Whole Series. 



They are pre-eminently suggestive books. They excite in- 
terest, they stimulate inquiry, and they point the way to fields 
of thought that are entirely new. or to old fields that shine in 
new richness and beazity from the light that is thrown upon 
them. There is abundance of material for attractive and 
profitable sermons in the histories and the personal sketches 
in the Old Testament. To ministers and teachers they will be 
found to be a real Biblical treasury. 



PRESS NOTICES. 
The Presbyterian. 

" There is no doubt that this author was qualified in a very 
remarkable way to prepare such a history as this. . . . 
Dr. Edersheim's intimate familiarity with Jewish life and 
modes of thought, and his ability to say so well what he 
knows, enable him to paint with great vividness and dis- 
tinctness the scenes he describes and the events which he 
narrates. . . We heartily recommend it to our readers." 
The Clergyman's Magazine. 

" In the easiest, simplest way imaginable, in unostenta- 
tious, popular language, he embodies the resulcs of a large 
literature." 
The Literary World. 

" These books will be a great help to many readers of 
the Bible." 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

New York Chicago Toronto 



WORKS BY REV. P. B. MEYER 

"Few books of recent years are better adapted to instruct 
and help Christians than those of this author:'— D. L. Moody. 

OLD TESTAMENT HEROES. 

i2mo, cloth. Each $1.00 

Joshua, and the Land of Promise. 
Moses : The Servant of God. 
Abraham ; or, The Obedience of Faith. 
Elijah, and the Secret of His Power. 
Israel : A Prince with God. 
Joseph : Beloved, Hated, Exalted. 

THE EXPOSITORY SERIES. 

The Way into the Holiest : Expositions of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. i2mo, cloth, i.oo 

The Life and Light of Men : Expositions of 
John i: xii. i2mo, cloth i.oo 

Tried by Fire : Expositions of the First Epis- 
tle of Peter. i2mo, cloth i.oo 

The Psalms: Notes and Readings. i8mo, 

cloth 6o 

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE SERIES. 

i8mo, cloth. Each 5° 

White vellum cloth, silver tops.- Each 60 

The Future Tenses of the Blessed Life. 

Christian Living. 

The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life. 

The Shepherd Psalm. 

Envelope Series of Booklets. 

No. 1. 12 Tracts assorted net. .20 

No. 2. 12 Tracts assorted net. .20 

Choice Extracts from " The First Steps" and 
other Writings of Rev. F. B. Meyer, selected 

by Rev. B. Fay Mills. 24mo, paper 05 

Per dozen I... .net. .35 

6mo, large paper edition 15 



Fleming H. Revell Company 

New York Chicago Toronto j 



Works by C. H. Spurgeon, 



My Sermon Notes. Genesis to Proverbs. i2mo, cloth., i.oo 
My Sermon Notes. Ecclesiastes to Malachi. i2mo, cloth, 

$I.OO 

My Sermon Notes. Matthew to Acts. i2mo. cloth i.oo 

My Sermon Notes. Romans to Revelation. i2mo, cloth, i.oo 

Four Vohcmes in box 4.00 

" Every paragraph opens a mine of riches."— Interior. 
Feathers for Arrows; or, Illustrations for Preachers and 

Teachers. i2mo, cloth 1.00 

The Golden Alphabet. A Devotional Commentary on the 

119th Psalm. i2mo, cloth 1.00 

Spurgeon's Gems. i2mo, cloth 1.00 

Gleanings Among the Sheaves. i8mo, cloth, gilt top. . .60 
All of Grace. A book for those seeking the way of life. 

i6mo, cloth 50 

According to Promise ; or, The Lord's Dealings with His 

. Chosen People. i6mo, cloth 50 

Twelve Christmas Sermons. 8vo, cloth .50 

Twelve New Year Sermons. 8 vo, cloth 50 

Twelve Sermons on the Resurrection. 8vo, cloth 50 

" Preachers may get aid in preparing Easter or funeral 
sermons from this volume. Good to present to those who 
have lost loved ones.' 1 '' --National Baptist. 

Twelve Soul Winning Sermons. 8vo, cloth 50 

Selected by Mr. Spurgeon as the twelve sermons under 
which there toave been the most marked and permanent 
results. 
Twelve Striking Sermons. 8vo, cloth 50 



BIOGRA PHIES 

Charles H. Spurgeon. Second Edition, with Additional 
Chapter on Mr. Spurgeon's Illness and Death. By Rev. 
James J. Ellis, a graduate of the Pastor's College, i2mo, 

cloth 1.00 

" This is a very entertaining biography of the great Lon- 
don preacher, and makes very delightful reading." — The 
Observer ; (N. Y.) 

Charles H. Spurgeon. His Life and Ministry, By Jesse 
Page. "World's Benefactors" Series. 121110, cloth 7.5 



NewYork, FLEMING H. REYELL COMPANY. Chicago. 



Books for Young Men. 

Uniform in style and price, 121110 cloth, each 50 els. 



Thoroughness. Talks to Young Men. By 
Rev. Thain Davidson, D.D. 
Contents :— Heartiness, Prosperity and Presumption, 

g>uiet Meditation, Chums, Fools I have Met, Hasting- to 
e Rich, As the Man so is his Strength, The Divine 
Plumb-line, A Notable Eleven, The Compendium of Chris- 
tian Duty, Keeping the Heart with Diligence, The Com- 
plete Life, The Bow of Promise. 

Moral Muscle and How to Use It. A Brother- 
ly Chat with Young Men. By Frederick 
A. Atkins. 
■' It looks the facts of young men's lives full in the face, 
and proclaims the gospel of industry, perseverance, self- 
control, and manly Christianity."— St. Andrew's Cross. 

First Battles and How to Fight Them. Some 
Friendly Chats with Young Men. By Fred- 
erick A. Atkins. 
" It is true in its substance, attractive in its style, and 

admirable in its spirit. I heartily commend- this little 

volume." — Rev. John Hall, D.D. 

Brave and True. Talks to Young Men. By 
Rev. Thain Davidson, D.D. 
"A short series of plain, wholesome, spiritually and tem- 
porally elevating talks to young men. —The Congrega- 
tionalist. 

The Spiritual Athlete and How He Trains. 

By W. A. Bodell. Introduction by Rev. B. 

Fay Mills. 
" Its power and value lie in the consistent carrying out 
of the comparison between physical and spiritual training." 
— The Independent. 

Turn Over a New Leaf, and Other Words to 

Young People at School. By B. B. Comegys. 

"The Author makes the subject fascinating and there 

are thousands just now who should turn over the leaf."— 

The Western Christian A dvocate. 



Fleming H. Revell Company. 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1606S 
<724) 779-21 11 



